Anderson Quartet to Lead a Musical Journey

Music is a universal language that speaks to emotions and imagination, as children of all ages can discover, along with a deeper message about what life has to offer, in a special afternoon event featuring the award-winning Anderson Quartet at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on May 3.

Part of the inaugural season of the Luckman Family Series, the 90-minute event, aimed at pre-kindergarten through middle school-age children, includes a concert and workshops exploring music through a look at various instruments, dance movement and storytelling.

“I wanted to try to do something a little different to introduce the young children to classical music as well as make it interesting for those students who may be studying an instrument,” said program organizer Susan Swarthout, director of outreach and education at the Luckman.

To that end, children who attend will be able to choose two of the three half-hour workshops that precede the concert.

In the first workshop, quartet members--violinist Marisa McLeod and Marianne Henry, violist Diedra Lawrence and cellist Michael Cameron--will give children a hands-on introduction to musical instruments.

Swarthout, a former East Coast professional storyteller, will lead another workshop, relating tales about composers’ lives and times and cultural backgrounds “to bring them to life as people.”

The third workshop features dance instructor Jacqueline Paquette, who specializes in music and movement for young children. She’ll get kids up on their feet and moving to Mozart and Mendelssohn in a variety of activities to “help them feel the music from the inside,” Swarthout said.

“I think, with the younger kids especially, that’s a really good way to give them an understanding of music they may be hearing for the first time.”

Lawrence said she hopes that participants will realize that “music is not just what you see on TV.” “There’s a wide array of things that make up music in the world,” she said.

It’s not just classical music that will be happening during the event, she noted. “I think that the Anderson Quartet has a very special gift to share with children about our lives. We all come from pretty meager backgrounds, but we realized the world was full of options and we created wonderful lives for ourselves.

“I think it’s never too early to start teaching a child that there are many options in life and that they have access to those options. And sometimes,” Lawrence added with a laugh, “it sinks in more when it doesn’t come from parents.”

The program concludes with the quartet’s half-hour “formal, sit-down concert” in the Luckman Theatre, featuring the music of Mozart, Gossec and Mendelssohn.

* “Luckman Family Series: Anderson Quartet,” Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive, May 3 at 2 p.m. $7. (213) 365-3500 or (213) 343-6600.

Work It Out: Professional adult stage and television directors and actors bring to life a “kid’s-eye view of the workplace” in “On the Job,” eight short plays at Barnsdall Art Park on Friday and Saturday. The plays, written by children and teenagers, are the culmination of a play-making program for ages 8 to 18 at the Santa Monica-based Virginia Avenue Project, the West Coast replication of the venerable 52nd Street Project in New York, bringing young people together with professional artists to and expand horizons.

* “On the Job,” Gallery Theatre, Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Free, but reservations advised. (310) 330-8860.

Plan Ahead: For more in the musical vein, consider the “Festival Organ Family Concert: Peter and the Wolf,” with organist Scott Schlesinger and narrator the Rev. Jane Voigts performing the Prokofiev classic on May 17. The special concert will be presented by the UCLA Fowler Museum in conjunction with its interactive “Festival Organ: King of Instruments” exhibition now through May 18.

* “Festival Organ Family Concert,” First United Methodist Church, 1008 11th St., Santa Monica, May 17 at 4 p.m. Free. (310) 393-8258.