Encore! Kids is a three-year cycle

• Carnival of the Animals (2023/24 school-year)

• Imaginings (2019/20 school-year)

• Peter and the Wolf (2025/26 school-year)

Each year of the program is a unique journey creating multiple points of entry into the Symphony Orchestra and the world of exceptional music, from Beethoven, Saint-Saëns and Prokofiev to John Williams and Stephen Sondheim, as well as pop music classics like "Lean on Me" and more recent phenomenons like "Happy." When you reach children interactively through music they love, there's no limit to where you can lead them.

Learn more about Encore! Kids

KEY INFORMATION

CULMINATING CONCERT

Every child will participate in a field trip in the spring to a local auditorium, where a full symphony orchestra will be ready to create music together. There's no need to bring along their workbook as all lyrics will be clearly displayed on screens.

ABOUT THE CONCERT EXPERIENCE 

The children don't come to sit and watch – they become the orchestra. This is more akin to a rock concert than a traditional Symphony Orchestra kids concert. It's completely interactive, and wildly impactful. The kids own it, and they'll never forget it.

STUDENTS INVOLVED

2,500 K-2 students from Moore County schools are involved in the program annually in NC.

THEME

Each year of the three-year cycle has a theme, such as Carnival of the Animals, including selections from Camille Saint-Saens' classic work for children.

STUDENT WORKBOOK

Every child receives their own student workbook to keep. 

CLASSROOM PREPARATION

All students will prepare in their weekly music class for at least eight weeks prior to the culminating concert experience to gain maximum impact and benefit from the program.

CLASSROOM VISITS & ASSEMBLIES

Classroom visits are a key component of the student's success in Encore! Kids. A musician – or more often, a group of musicians and artists – from the Philharmonic visits each music classroom for an interactive experience performing for and with the students. Our in-school music teacher partners are given the option of grouping classes together for a special assembly.

PROGRAM FUNDING

Encore! Kids is presented as a public-private partnership. In the thriving program in Moore County, NC, The Carolina Philharmonic partners with Moore County Schools; the program is made possible through generous funding through hundreds of local patrons. We receive no state or federal funding. 

COSTS

Encore! Kids costs on average $50 per child. (The per child cost will decrease significantly as the program scales.) The Carolina Philharmonic presently serves more than 3,500 children annually through their educational outreach programs, requiring raising $175,000.

INTEGRATION WITH COMMON CORE, STANDARDS OF LEARNING

According to participating Music Educators in NC, Encore! Kids easily integrates into the existing teaching standards in place for Music Teachers. The program is intended to enhance, not replace, the existing curriculum. Teachers report that due to the Encore! Kids program and their students looking forward to and preparing for the culminating interactive concert that the classroom experience improves significantly.

PRIVATE-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP

Minimal indirect costs are provided through the school district, such as the performance venue, busing the children to the performance, logistical support, and integration of the program into existing music instruction in the schools. The key component of the partnership is exploring synergistic ways to connect the larger community with the project to enable private funding. The School System is in a unique position to educate parents about the program to create community ownership and support.  

Welcome to Encore! Kids

Encore! Kids is a cutting edge music curriculum for children grades K-2 culminating in an interactive orchestral experience with The Carolina Philharmonic.

Developed by Maestro David Michael Wolff, Encore! Kids has been embraced by students, teachers and parents. Wolff shares, "We need to meet the children where they are, and from there show them where they can go, what they can become. The program turns them into lifelong lovers of exceptional music, and active members of a thousand-strong chorus and orchestra."

Get a glimpse of what he's talking about here:

2018/19 participating schools (Moore County, NC)

Aberdeen Elementary
Carthage Elementary
Cameron Elementary
Highfalls Elementary
Pinehurst Elementary
Robbins Elementary
Sandhills Farm Life Elementary
Southern Pines Elementary
Vass-Lakeview Elementary
West End Elementary
West Pine Elementary
Westmoore Elementary
Sandhills Classical Christian School
The Academy of Moore County
Episcopal Day School

The O'Neal School