Category: Events

Events

Everybody Loves Clifford

Clifford The Big Red Dog is coming to the Hylton Center on April 30th. Share in the timeless values of Clifford’s BIG Ideas with this interactive musical experience the whole family will love!

This enormous and playful red pooch has delighted youngsters for over 50 years with his heartwarming storybooks and his award-winning animated series on PBS Kids. Now, Clifford, Emily Elizabeth, and all their friends from Birdwell Island join together for an afternoon of singing, dancing, and lots of interactive fun, while they share a few BIG ideas for children about being kind and respectful toward others, sharing, and believing in oneself. Join us for this imaginative and charming performance that is sure to enchant readers of all ages — and all sizes!

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Events Music

Young Vocal Students Perform In Opera

Eight lucky young vocal students have been cast in an upcoming university production of Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortileges by Mason Vocal Studies & Opera Theater. They will be playing “number” characters and singing in French!

Potomac Arts Academy’s Vocal Teaching Artist Jennifer Kellerhas been leading rehearsals for the students, who range in age from 7 to 12 years old. “Each student is either taking a private voice lesson, in a group voice class, and/or active with Acting For Young People,” said Ms. Keller. “Six of these students are returning after performing in La Boheme last fall!”

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L’enfant et les Sortileges is the story of a rude child who is reprimanded by the objects in his room which he has been destroying. After being scolded by his mother in the beginning of the opera, the child throws a tantrum destroying the room around him. He is then surprised to find that the unhappy objects in his room come to life. The furniture and decorations begin to talk; even his homework takes shape as it becomes an old man and a chorus of numbers.

“Singing in French is tough,”said one student, “but the teacher uses sound, movement and word tricks to make it easier.” The youngsters will perform alongside university Opera students in the production, which takes place in Harris Theatre on the Mason Fairfax campus on April 15-17.

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Acting Community Outreach Events Music

Live-Streamed Performathon

Potomac Arts Live accompanist, performer and M.C's.

Potomac Arts LIVE! is back for its second year! This exciting live-streamed performance opportunity for our students is also an important fundraiser for the Academy. Funds that are raised go toward supporting our many outreach activities, such as our in-school-service programs and Instruments in the Attic, and student scholarships.

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Potomac Arts LIVE! Performathon 2016 will be on Sunday, May 15th.

A selection of the academy’s Music and Acting students are raising sponsorships (usually from family and friends) to be eligible to perform. On the day of the live performance, anyone from around the world can watch via a provided URL link on the internet. This gives relatives who live a long distance away the chance to watch the student perform live – last year we even had viewers from as far away as South America and France! The link will also be posted on our website.

“This event is truly one of a kind! Not only does it seamlessly blend technology and art, but it’s exciting for the students to know that their performance can be viewed live online,” says Potomac Arts Academy staff member Alaina Talley. “We live in a world where social media is so relevant, and I feel this event gives our students the chance to be seen by friends and family around the world in a fun, accessible way.”

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What is also amazing about Potomac Arts LIVE! is that it is so focused on giving back. Encouraging students of all ages to raise funds in the community for the community is an important lesson in social action and responsibility. Teaching young performers that they have the ability to make a difference is invaluable. It’s really a celebration of how arts can make a very real positive impact and how the students can be a part of that.

“Last year, parents and students were amazed that simply by performing in front of a camera, their performance could be viewed by hundreds of people– it’s really exciting!” shares Ms. Talley. “The experience of being interviewed by our emcees gives students the chance to feel like celebrities.”

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Even if you are not a student “sponsor”, you have the opportunity to contribute to the event via a donation portal that will be advertised during the event and on our website. We hope you will join us from wherever you are – on whatever device you choose (with an internet connection, that is) – to watch this wonderful performance event.

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Events Music

Journey to the Islands This Saturday

This Saturday, March 5 at 8pm in Mason’s Center for the Arts: Sway to the island rhythms as the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra transports you to paradise on the Caribbean shores. Imagine a warm island breeze beneath the palm trees with sounds of steel pans floating by. It’s a perfect winter getaway!

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This illustrious jazz orchestra is joined by featured steel pan virtuoso Victor Provost, a member of the Grammy Award-winning Afro Bop Alliance, and his ensemble for a program of Caribbean music. Washington City Paper’s “Jazz Percussionist of the Year” for the past five years, Provost has performed alongside Cuban jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera and his Panamericana Orchestra and was named the Art Ambassador to his home of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Don’t miss this incredible night of music filled with rhythmic island soul!

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Events Music

Disney Fantasia at Center for the Arts

This Saturday, February 27 at 8pm: Dancing hippos, ostriches, and alligators; frolicking mythical centaurs and unicorns; and one famous mouse dabbling in magic come to life with live music in this performance for all ages.

Experience these animated Fantasia films as you’ve never experienced them before: accompanied by a full, live orchestra. Conceived as a concert work, Walt Disney’s original legendary film Fantasia (1940) was considered a masterpiece when it was released and introduced generations to some of the most magnificent works of classical music as well as the most creative animation of the time. Now you can enjoy favorite scenes from this groundbreaking film and its popular sequel, Disney Fantasia 2000, with live music played by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.

Stunning imagery from Disney’s unmatched animation studios appears on screen above the orchestra as Broadway and orchestra conductor, Ted Sperling leads it in famous works such as Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Resphigi’s Pines of Rome, and Dukas’s unforgettable The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

This event is part of the Great Performances at Mason concert series at Mason’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax.

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