Local school children have created art — inspired by Harry Potter — for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra's Children's Arts Festival on June 12.
The maestro's baton will double as a magic wand when the orchestra presents its second annual Children's Arts Festival. The multimedia event will feature a live orchestral performance of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Children's Suite for Orchestra" by composer John Williams, combined with a visual display of art created by the area's school children. ASO conductor Kim Allen Kluge will lead this event on Sunday at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at the Northern Virginia Community College at 3001 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria.
Of the 50,000 participating children from the Alexandria and Fairfax County Public School systems 371 works of art, inspired by the musical score based on the Harry Potter movie, have been selected for the video exhibition. At 2 p.m., Kluge will raise his baton and take his audience through the musical story of junior wizard Harry Potter, who will join conductor and orchestra onstage. At the same time, images of students' artwork will provide a Fantasia-like video enhancement to the performance.
Students whose art appears at the festival include:
* From Garfield Elementary, Eric Cheng, Hana Kim, Adeli Block, Abdul Basat Hafeez, Nurian Velasquez, Moe Nahim, Ada Evelyn Rodriguez and Anjani Batra;
* From Lynbrook Elementary, Victoria Kusch, Lahiru Ranasinghe, Hoang Nam Le, Jonathan Ellison, Melvin Portillo, Cari Ozpeker, Rachel Chan, Alfred Lagos Galindo, Panisa Jiumdumneankij, Julio Aparicio, Ty Johnson and Javier Morales Diaz;
* From Keene Mill Elementary, James Montavone, Kailey Leinz, Derrick Smith, Sunna Bashir, Marquisha Poole, Annie Sneed and Margan Silvers;
* From Orange Hunt Elementary, Tyler Rosenblatt, Alexander Sheetz, Cassandra Kilkenny, Esther Shy, Kevin Oh, Andrew Curtis, Molly Baker, Leah Cox, Shaida Mirsaeedi, Ryland Van Beuren, Jane Rudy, Bryan Weimer, Yasin Yilmaz, Erin Bolden, Sydney Ryals, Sarah Jones, Emilia McNally, Mitchell Hadfield, Hannah Beales, Annie Cho, Nicole Yohe, George Luo and Zachary Chini;
* From West Springfield Elementary, Elle Kime, Jake Anderson, Willow Ruude, Hayley Dashielle, Jesse Homer, Emily Colon, Michael Speer and Carol Oswald.
Families are invited to come early and create their own works of art inspired by the musical score starting at 1 p.m. Art stations will be provided with recorded versions of the concert piece, at which children can create their own masterpieces. There will also be a musical "petting zoo", at which would-be musicians can try out a variety of instruments.
Tickets are on sale for $7.50 for children and $15 for adults. Parking is free for concert goers.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Web site at www.alexsym.org, call 703-548-0885, or send an e-mail to martinez@alexsym.org.