On Sunday, March 25th the San Luis Obispo Symphony will present the Apex for Kids Family Concert, a unique and entertaining concert designed especially for families with young children, at the Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo.

Award-winning storyteller Zette Harbour will narrate the classic tale of “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev as Maestro Michael Nowak and the orchestra musically introduce us to the characters in the story. The concert will also include a few musical surprises from the orchestra and another classic tale entitled “In a Classical Stew.”

The lobby will open at 2 p.m., one hour prior to the concert, for family-friendly activities such as the Symphony’s Musical Petting Zoo, performances by the Bucket Busters and members of Pacific Dance. The concert will begin at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults, $8 for children ages 6 to 18, children 5 and under are free.

Sergei Prokofiev wrote Peter and the Wolf in just two weeks, in April of 1936, for a children's theater in Moscow. He invented the story and wrote the narration himself, drawing on memories of his own childhood. He constructed the music as a child's introduction to the orchestra, with each character in the story represented by a different instrument or group of instruments: Peter by the strings, the bird by the flute, the duck by the oboe, the cat by the clarinet, the wolf by the horn section and so on. Peter and the Wolf was an immediate success and has been loved by children all over the world. The music is sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by adults, even through repeated hearings. And it’s moral — you can't be a hero if you don't take risks — has delighted children of all ages for over 75 years.

Zette Harbour is a traditional storyteller, retreat leader and founder of the Pacific Storytelling Center. She has taught storytelling workshops for adults and children through Cal Poly Extending Education and Cuesta College for Kids. She leads seminars on the seeking and finding of “Story Wisdom” and has created programs for youth-at-risk and for such events as Women's History Day. In addition to live performances and workshops, Zette created a storytelling CD series Story Harbour, the first volume of which features six tales, including stories from such places as Russia, Japan and West Africa.
All seating is general and tickets may be purchased at the Performing Arts Center ticket office at (805) 756-2787 or online at www.pacslo.org.

Apex for Kids Family Concert is presented as a Living Legacy of Gerry and Peggy Peterson and is sponsored by Merikay Guhring, in memory of her parents, Gerry and Peggy Peterson, by Brendan V. and Kathryn L. McAdams and by a group of select donors called the Angeli di Musica. Our media sponsor is KSBY.