In-School Performances

Each year, Friends of Chamber Music sponsors school assembly performances by professional chamber music ensembles. These concerts combine age-appropriate music theory with accessible classical music. Groups such as The Playground, the Ivy String Ensemble, Ivalas Quartet, and Ensemble Faucheux have performed, offering the first live classical music experience for some students.  In any given year, Friends of Chamber Music’s educational outreach program reaches more than 3,500 students.

We are able to offer up to two 45-minute assembly performances (back-to-back) for Denver Public Schools, free of charge, thanks to support from the SCFD and Bowen Family Performing Arts Fund. All programs feature fun and interactive classical music programs. For a description of the ensembles and programs available, see below. A list of repertoire for each is available upon request.

Available Programs

Ensemble Faucheux

Ensemble Faucheux offers a lively educational program focused on Storytelling Through Music.  Whether inspiring tears or excitement, music has a powerful role in storytelling. This dynamic quartet will explore how music evokes emotion and imagination, using a range of works from Mozart and Ravel to movie scores from Harry Potter and Coco.

Rosinance

Rosinance will activate your senses through the sights and sounds of a string quartet (2 violins, viola, and cello). How do these stringed wooden boxes, played with horsehair on a stick or plucked by human fingers, produce such a wide variety of sounds? What have different composers throughout the years written for this ensemble that change how we play or what we play? And why does music create such a wide range of emotional responses in us? Rosinance will explore these questions through a set of musical numbers that will capture the attention of all ages.

Noor Quartet

The Noor Quartet, with violinists Nina Fronjian and Brune Macary, as well as violist Aniel Cabán and cellist Joseph Howe, has brought vibrant, versatile performances to Denver’s Front Range since 2016. The ensemble enjoys collaborating with local organizations to present concerts in community settings. Their eclectic repertoire has included complete works from the classical string quartet repertoire along with tango selections and covers of songs by Radiohead, the Shins, or the Beatles.

Ivy Street Ensemble

With its program, Can You Hear the Difference?,  the Ivy Street Ensemble (violin, viola, and flute) presents a classical music program with music from many periods and styles.  The ensemble showcases the different sounds of string instruments and several flutes.  Ivy Street reinforces basic science as they demonstrate the correlation between the size of the instrument and the sound of the instrument. They also highlight the idea of theme and variation (useful in teaching writing) with words, music, and audience participation.  Program is designed for all elementary school audiences (minimum of 125 per performance).  Click here to hear a performance excerpt from the Ivy Street Ensemble.  

Bartels Brass

The Bartels Brass is a dynamic ensemble of orchestral brass players  (2 trumpets, trombone, french horn, tuba) all currently performing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  Delivering an unmatched caliber of brass playing, these musicians have extensive performing and teaching experience.  The Bartels Brass offers students a detailed educational program featuring individual instrument demonstrations mixed with lively brass music from a wide variety of periods and styles. 

The Playground

The Playground’s performances help inspire students to create music.  In addition to winds and string instruments, their instrumentation includes percussion, piano, and voice.

Soundpainting:  Designed for elementary school audiences, students create music in a spontaneous and improvisatory way using this unique hand gesture language.  Playground musicians teach students hand gestures and then make music together. By the end of the session, students will be performing, composing, conducting, and laughing!  This system works regardless of training, skill level or genre preference and meets Colorado State Standards for composition, performance, and improvisation.