The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra’s Dakota String Quartet visits Huron on Wednesday and Thursday for interactive educational performances for students from preschool to high school and an additional show for nursing home residents.
The 30-45 minute Classroom Connections concerts, sponsored by First Premier Bank/Premier Bankcard and the South Dakota Arts Council, bring members of the Dakota String Quartet and Dakota Wind Quintet to classrooms across South Dakota for interactive age-appropriate programs. Elementary aged students are introduced to the instruments, learn basic musical concepts and listen to short musical excerpts performed by the ensembles.
Middle school and high school students have the opportunity for instrument coaching, sectional work or higher level performances by ensemble members.
The Huron sessions begin the morning of Wednesday, October 18 with an 8:45 a.m. performance at Huron High School for the high school orchestra and a 10 a.m. performance for preschoolers at the Huron Public Library. The quartet will then give two afternoon performances at Huron Middle School for the 6th Grade Orchestra (2:10 p.m.) and the 7th Grade Orchestra (2:45 p.m.).
On Thursday, October 19, the quartet will perform at 9:30 a.m. at Huron Nursing Home/Sunquest Healthcare Center before heading to Buchanan Elementary School for a 1:40 p.m. show for kindergarteners and a 2:25 p.m. show for first graders.
Some of the works to be performed were written by students from Rapid City and Pine Ridge and students and adults from the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe and the Sisseton community.
The compositions were borne out of the Lakota Music Project/Dakota Music Project, a long-term collaborative program in partnership between SDSO and the Native American community that seeks to build tangible bridges by finding points of common interest and experience in music.
To create their compositions, the participants teamed up with Chickasaw Composer-in-Residence Jerod
Impichcaachaaha’ Tate and professional musicians from the SDSO’s Dakota Wind Quintet and Dakota String