Christine CarrilloWho better to teach fifth-graders about...

Christine Carrillo

Who better to teach fifth-graders about classical music than Ludwig

van Beethoven himself?

Well, no one, according to the Philharmonic Society Youth

Education Programs, which took on the large task Monday of breathing

life back into the deceased composer for the 46th annual Concerts for

Fifth-Graders.

Hosted by the very animated Beethoven, a.k.a. actor John-David

Keller, with performances by the Orange County Youth Symphony

Orchestra under the direction of conductor John Koshak, 14-year-old

pianist and composer Sebastian Chang and 17-year-old Jessica

Callahan, a blind singer and songwriter, fifth-grade students

throughout Orange County got their last chance to experience the

educational and entertaining concert.

This year’s concert, “Ups and Downs,” provided about 24,000 public

and private school children with a 45-minute youth concert, which

also included dancers from the Anaheim Ballet, to “bring the magic of

music into the lives of more than 200,000 children annually,” said

Chantel Chen, public relations manager for the society.

“They’re really receptive and they’re fun to play to,” said

Keller, who has participated in this concert for the past 18 years.

“For me, it’s all about seeing the surprise that they get listening

to the symphony and the orchestra. ... For many of them, it’s the

first time or even the only time they get to experience this.”

Not only did the concert provide students a chance to experience

classical music live, it also served as a culmination of course work

that the society gave to each class before their arrival at the

Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“I think that [the young audience] is even more enthusiastic than

adults sometimes,” said Callahan, who wrote and performed her first

song at age 13. “I think they’re young and they want to learn.”

Before the concert, students learned about the mechanics of an

orchestra, its instruments and their sounds, and during the concert

itself, with the guidance of their gracious host Beethoven, they got

to see everything they learned in class come to life on the stage.

“It was really cool, and I really liked the dancers,” said

11-year-old Austin Franzman, a fifth-grader from Enders Elementary

School in Garden Grove.

“I thought it was great,” said Sabrina Vermane, 11, also from

Enders Elementary. “I like how they get all the sounds to go

together.”

Giving students a chance to sing along to the “Ode to Joy” from

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, or hear the powerful sounds of the

percussion section and the melodic fusion of the different string

instruments, musicians got a chance to share their love and knowledge

of music with an audience of pupils awaiting a new and rare

experience.

“It’s a wonderful experience ... and I focus mainly on the fact

that it’s an educational concert,” said Chang, who began composing

music at the age of 5. “I’ve always believed that bringing music

[into the classroom] is a very, very vital component of the musical

world today.”

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.