2024 Young People’s Concert hits stage at Collins Center for the Arts

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – As the school year slows down and the good weather returns, more field trips are in store for students.

The annual Young People’s Concert by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra told a few stories.

Thousands of students flocked to the Collins Center for the Arts for the concert.

Lucas Richman is the music director and conductor of the BSO and has produced this show for years.

“The theme is telling stories through music, so we’ve got everything from the ‘Wedding March’ from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ to ‘Peter and the Wolf,’” said Richman.

They also featured another very special guest.

“Our winner of the Bangor Symphony’s annual concerto competition, Michael Bostock is playing part of his piano concerto, and it’s amazing,” said Richman.

The 18-year-old Bostock said performing in the program is a full-circle moment.

In fact, he remembers when he got the opportunity to take meaningful field trips like this.

“I have fun when I’m playing stuff, and it’s a way to connect with people as well,” said Bostock. “I get to connect with people in orchestras and different ensembles, things like that.”

However, it’s also a beautiful moment for teachers like Kelly Ellis to see her students embrace classical music.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for them to be exposed to that and maybe spark an interest in them because right now in the fourth grade, that’s just in the Bangor school department, that’s when they’re just deciding which instrument they’d like to play the following year,” said Ellis.

This production means more to the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the teachers, and students who get to attend.

It’s the beginning of a new way of thinking, a new way to inspire.

That is certainly a story to tell.