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In his 30th season as the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra’s music director, Steven Karidoyanes says he’s been a “beneficiary of great timing.” During his first years at the helm, a grant helped the orchestra start a “family concert” program – a 60-to-70-minute performance with familiar music and no intermission. Planners also created a pre-concert activity: the players, with their instruments engaged with audience members.
In what it now describes as a concert “for all ages,” the orchestra will present “Hocus Pocus: Magical Music” on Sunday, March 10, beginning at 3 p.m., at Memorial Hall.
The program will include music from John Williams’ film scores for Harry Potter movies, Gustav Holst’s classical work “The Planets,” and French composer Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” put to brilliant cinematic effect in Disney’s “Fantasia.”
The orchestra will also perform “The Ritual Fire Dance” from a ballet titled “Love, the Magician” by Spanish composer Manuel de Fall.
And it will accompany pianist Jacob Lewack, the teenage winner of a regional concerto competition. The Hingham High School freshman will “magically perform” (as the orchestra puts it) music from Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
“Our excellent musicians and the collective power of our orchestra will be on full display in this special magic-themed program,” Karidoyanes said. “We promise to surround you with splashes of sonic color, waves of high energy, and thrilling sweeps of sound. Be prepared to be blown away.”
Some elements have changed since the first concert of this kind was held, he said. The orchestra wound down its children’s chorus segment, he explained, because children’s schedules have become increasingly crowded, impinging on rehearsal time.
The series was re-branded as “intergenerational” because much of the music will be familiar, and the program’s length is modest.
“These concerts are great entry points” for people who haven’t been in a concert hall, the conductor said. He describes them as “fast, loud, and done in an hour.”
“We fight tooth-and-nail to get people into the hall,” Karidoyanes said. “And as I’ve often said, if they don’t want to come back, that’s my fault.”
Retaining one of the popular elements of the family concert format, the orchestra will hold an “instrument demonstration” beginning at 2 p.m. at Memorial Hall, 83 Court St. Audience members will be invited to meet individual musicians and learn more about how they play their instruments – an encounter, as the orchestra puts it, that “is not just for kids.”
Altogether, 14 members of the orchestra will demonstrate how they play their instruments: violin, by Meghan O’Conner; viola by Sara DeGraide; cello by Bonnie Harlow; double bass by Ira Schaefer; oboe by Matt Cross; clarinet by Julie Stuckenschneider; bassoon by Sam Childers; French horn by Anne Howarth; trumpet by Robinson Pyle; trombone by Adam Hanna; tuba by Chip Halt; and percussion by Dann Hann and Timothy McGee.
The concert will also take part in a national food drive called “Orchestras Feeding America.” Audience members are encouraged to bring and contribute non-perishable food items to benefit the Food Warehouse of Greater Plymouth.
Ticket prices for this event are reduced to promote attendance by anyone new to live orchestral music. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children age 12 and under. They are on sale here. Or call 508-746-8008.
More things to do this week and beyond
Monday, Feb. 26
Back to school, everyone. Yeah, kids, I know you missed it. Today is also the first day parents can register children for kindergarten. Registration continues through Friday, March 1. The central administration office can be reached at 508-830-4300.
The Manomet branch library holds storytime for children age 6 and under, from 10:30 to 11 a.m. No registration necessary.
The Plymouth Library’s Noteworthy Nonfiction Book Club meets from 6 to 7 p.m. The group is reading “The White Darkness” by David Grann. Copies are available to check out at the circulation desk. Call Kris Boyles at 508-830-4250 ext. 201, for more information.
Tuesday, Feb. 27
“Capturing Faces,” a graphite portraiture class, begins at the Plymouth Center for the Arts from 4 to 6 p.m. The center offers classes for adults, children and teens in artisan crafts, dance, digital art, drawing, oil and acrylics, pastels, photography, pottery/ceramics, and watercolor. For more information or to browse available classes by category (summer art camps, adult classes, youth classes, workshops, dance classes, classes by medium, etc.) go here.
In connection with the Plymouth Library’s One Book, One Community group, Nature’s Best Hope, the public is invited to a screening of “Green Fire,” courtesy of the Aldo Leopold Foundation. The first full-length documentary film ever made about legendary conservation thinker Aldo Leopold, “Green Fire” explores Leopold’s extraordinary career. The film traces how he shaped the modern conservation movement and continues to inspire projects all over the country that connect people and the land. The screening will take place in the library’s Fehlow meeting room, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 28
ThreeV Restaurant, 10 Cordage Park Circle, offers “Terrarium and Taps” from 6 to 8 p.m. You will learn the techniques to create a tiny world of plants, rocks, and moss, encapsulated in a glass terrarium. Each participant will make a terrarium to take home. The session includes all materials. Tickets are $42.22 and are available here.
The Plymouth Library hosts a virtual talk with Kim Scott, New York Times bestselling author of “Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity,” from 2 to 3 p.m. More information is available here.
Thursday, Feb. 29
Preschool Story time, a half-hour program that gives parents, caregivers, and children ages 3 to 5 the opportunity to enjoy books, songs, rhymes, and movement activities together, takes place from 11 to 11:30 in the Plymouth Library meeting room. The activity also reinforces important early literacy skills to help children get ready to read. Other children are welcome as well. No registration necessary.
America’s Hometown Laureate committee presents “Meet the Finalists” at Plimoth Patuxet Museums, 137 Warren Ave. Two finalists for the position of the town’s poet laureate, Bill Arienti and Miriam O’Neal, will present an original work about Plymouth. The event begins with a cocktail hour at 5 p.m. in the museums’ Gainsborough Hall (including hors d’oeuvres and cash bar), followed by the presentations at 6 p.m. The event will also include a farewell ceremony for Plymouth’s first poet laureate, Stephan Delbos.
Friday, March 1
Local Eats Week, presented by the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce, begins at noon. Participating restaurants are offering exclusive specials, special menus, and promotions for $20.24. A list of participating restaurants can be found here.
Every month, the Plymouth Library’s “Wild About Reading: Sustainable Storytime” presents stories and activities that teach children about environmentalism and encourage a lifelong love of nature and the outdoors. The program runs from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Storytime books are chosen for ages 5-9. Registration opens two weeks before the event.
A Friday evening dance party to benefit the Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless will take place from 6 to 7:15 p.m. at YogaSix Kingston, at 105 Summer St. in Kingston. Participate for a donation of $25. To register call or text 781-798-8023.
Saturday, March 2
Pilgrim Hall Museum director Donna Curtin leads a tour of Burial Hill on the topic of “A Blessing Great but Dangerous: Children in Early Plymouth,” beginning at 1 p.m. Meet at the top of the hill in the town’s oldest cemetery, accessible by stairs from Town Square. Tours last one hour. They’re free, and registration isn’t required.
Sunday, March 3
“Master Illusionist” Lyn Dillies, described as America’s premier female illusionist, brings her magic to The Spire, 25 ½ Court St., from 2 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $22.50 and $25 and are available here.
Monday, March 4
Uva Wine Bar, 46 Main St., hosts a workshop in making wine cork buoy garlands, from 7 to 9 p.m. participant may paint buoys any way they wish and loop on a thin nylon rope to create an authentic look. After that, string the buoys onto a thick hemp twine and add some ribbon, Tickets are $50. For tickets go here.
Tuesday, March 5
Plymouth library hosts its chess club, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the library’s Nook Road study rooms. Chess players at all levels, adults and students, are welcome. Chess sets are provided, although may bring their own. Guidance is provided by Bill Petrillo, an experienced chess instructor.
The legendary Jonathan Richman, of Modern Lovers fame and beyond, will perform at The Spire, 25 ½ Court St., from 8 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $35. You can buy them here.
Wednesday, March 6
Plymouth library hosts an online conversation with former NPR reporter Nina Totenberg about her nearly 50-year friendship with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her book Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships. From 4 to 5 p.m. Find out more here.
Aspiring reporters (and anyone else) may take part in the library’s Wednesday Night Writing Group, from 6 to 8 p.m. Contact Maureen Coleman at mcoleman@ocln.org or call 508-830-4250, ext. 230.
The Church of the Pilgrimage, 8 Town Square, will host a Lenten Soup Supper from 6 to 7:30 p.m. A variety of simple homemade soups with salad and bread will be served, followed by a talk about “Islam and Peace” by Imam Luqman Gondal of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Boston. The community’s motto is “Love for All, Hatred for None.” Its Boston Chapter is housed in Sharon. All are welcome. A reservation is recommended. Call 508-746-3026.
Thursday, March 7
The Plymouth library’s Preschool Storytime is a half-hour story program that gives parents, caregivers, and children ages 3-5 the opportunity to enjoy books, songs, rhymes, and movement activities together. The storytime takes place in the Fehlow meeting room from 11 to 11:30 a.m. No registration necessary.
Friday, March 8
Guitar virtuoso Trace Bundy will perform at The Spire, 25 1/2 Court St., from 8 to 10 p.m. His use of harmonics, “looping, multiple capos, and unique banter and stage presence” promises to deliver “an unforgettable live concert experience.” Tickets are $15 and $22.50, and available here.
Saturday, March 9
The Manomet Knit and Crochet Group meets at the Manomet branch library from 2 to 4 p.m. It’s an adult group.
Three V Restaurant, 10 Cordage Park Circle, offers live music by Brent Burwell from 6 to 9 p.m. For more information, call Derek Nickerson at 508-927-4046
Sunday, March 10
Plimoth General Store, 44 Main St., hosts a food and beverage tasting, including charcuterie, sandwiches, specialty chocolates, beer and wine from Craft Beer Cellar. The day also includes cooking demos with the store’s vendors. The event takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $16 and can be purchased here.
As reported above, the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra performs this afternoon. Tickets are $20, $10 for children under 12, and are available here.