Conductor's baton becomes magic wand

2/23/2006

Musical magic from the cinema is the offered up Saturday morning when Chelsea Tipton II and the Toledo Symphony present "Harry Potter Meets the Symphony," the third concert of its four-event family series at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle.

Selections of John Williams' music from the Harry Potter movies is the focus. Also featured is English composer Frederic Hymen Cowen's "Dance of the Witches," from his 1896 ballet suite "In Fairyland," and Russian composer Modest Mussorgky's rousing 1867 "Night on Bald Mountain," which grown-ups will remember from the 1940 Disney cartoon film Fantasia.

Building on Harry's Hogwart career will be Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March," the melody to which American muggles almost invariably graduate.

Soloist for the concert will be Akron violinist and high school senior MaeLynn Arnold, winner of the Toledo Symphony League's annual Young Artist Competition.

Arnold performs the last movement from Henryk Wieniawski's rousing second violin concerto.

Following the concert, children are invited to participate in a variety of hands-on activities from 1 to 3 p.m. in the museum's Libbey Court.

Family tours of the art galleries will be offered at 2:30 pm.

Conductor Chelsea Tipton II leads the Toledo Symphony in a family program titled "Harry Potter Meets the Symphony" at 11 a.m. in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. Tickets are $15 and $20, half price for children. Information: 419-246-8000 or 800-348-1253.