Oregon Symphony Launches Second Season of ‘Symphony Storytime’
By Logan MartellOn March 16, 2021, the Oregon Symphony launched the second season of “Symphony Storytime,” a 16-episode digital education series featuring company musicians lending their gifts to readings of children’s books.
Sponsored by Reach Out and Read Oregon, a nonprofit dedicated to children’s literacy, the season will be comprised of 12 episodes in English and four in Spanish, meant to introduce children to a range of stories and sounds from many instruments. Among the books are “The Snowy Day,” “Harlem’s Little Black Bird,” “Una Extraña Visita,” and more.
“It was important for us that this season of Symphony Storytime speaks to our global audience of multicultural families,” said Oregon Symphony Associate Conductor Norman Huynh in a press statement. “The episodes are created to be engaging, educational, entertaining, and relatable family entertainment while demonstrating the magic of music and storytelling to young audiences. There are also timely themes found in all of this season’s books about the importance of resilience, problem solving, working together, self-care and self-awareness.”
Since its premiere last year, “Symphony Storytime” has received praise for its ability to provide meaningful educational content to their children, and has been used in virtual classrooms worldwide. New episodes will be released every two weeks into August 2021, and will be available to watch on Oregon Symphony’s website and YouTube channel.