Classics for Kids Education Program

In 1999, the Minnesota Orchestra at Saint Benedict's Board of Directors instituted a project to ensure that the school children in the St. Cloud, Sartell and Sauk Rapids School Districts would become the Orchestra's future audiences. The board raised the funding and organized the program to send 1300 youth in 5th grade to one Young People's Concert a year at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

The Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra will now assume the responsibility to reaise $13,000 annually to cover the ticket and transportation expenses. Funding for this program is a result of individual donations, grant writing, school and business contributions.  The Orchestra provides a printed music curriculum specifically designed for each concert and age appropriate for 5th grade students.  Each fall, the Director of Education from the Minnesota Orchestra conducts workshops for classroom music teachers involved in the program.  This is followed up by a classroom visit to each participating school to further prepare students in regards to the music they will hear and answer questions they may have. 

As partners in this program, the Board of Directors for the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra offers a free concert for 4th graders at St. Cloud State University.

Classics for Kids Concerts 2005 - 2006

October 14, 2003
October 29, 2003
October 30, 2003
"Copland's Appalachian Spring"
Clearview School
Talahi School

December 5, 2003

Thanks to “Classics for Kids” Donors 2005

$1,000 – 2,999
Robinson Trust

$500 - $999
Foreign Wars Post #6992 of Sauk Rapids
Independent School District No. 748 Sartell-St. Stephen
LEAF (Local Education Activities Foundation)

$50 - $499
Anonymous Donor
Clearview PTA
Coborn's International
Carole and John Erickson
Don and Arlene Helgeson
Kennedy Elementary PTA
Cynthia Leigh
Liberty Savings Bank
Mildred McGonagle
Catharine & David Van Nostrand
Oak Hill PTSA
Plaza Park Bank
Robert and Patricia Witte
Young People's Symphony Concert Association