Musical Bridges Around the World is proud to report its seventh successful segment of Kids to Concerts during the 18th season at no charge to the schools visited! On March 23-24, 2016 the Flying Balalaika Brothers visited six San Antonio Elementary schools: Larkspur, Kriewald Road, Regency Place, Young Men’s Leadership Academy, Bowden and Riverside Park.
MBAW’s interactive and exciting program incorporated TEKS and STEM curriculum-teaching the culture and geography of Russia & Ukraine through music. About 5,000 children learned about rhythm & sound, dance, history, ethnic instruments and Russian language during the 40 minute program.
Each program included an interactive dance where the entire school participated and counted in Russian! Each program concluded with a Q & A with the students. This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to interact with the artists and ask questions. The Q & A really showed how much this program impacts the minds of these students, they were so interested to learn about new cultures.
District 2 Councilman Allan E. Warrick II sponsored and attended the performance at Young Men’s Leadership Academy. After the performance he asked the students if they think other schools should also have the opportunity to experience this program and they said “YES!”
One teacher from Regency Place Elementary said, “I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the presentation of the Flying Balalaika Brothers. I have to admit in all the years I have been here at Regency (nearly 30) this was the most informative presentation about country, culture and the manner of which other children enjoy listening to music. This was a WOW moment: real live EDUCATION.”
MBAW would like to thank all of its generous sponsors for this program including: San Antonio City Council Project Funds, the Texas Commission on the Arts, The Brown Foundation, Inc., HEB, Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation, Rackspace, San Antonio Area Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For details on how to bring the Kids to Concerts program to your school please contact Diana Tatu by clicking