The Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra’s fourth and final Family Series concert of the 2024-25 season will feature Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and three spirited movements from the suite from Mikis Theodorakis’ ballet Zorba the Greek. 

The finale is set for Saturday morning, March 22, at 11 a.m. in Auer Performance Hall at Purdue University Fort Wayne. 

Troy Webdell is youth education and family concert conductor, and the orchestra will be joined by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Chorus, directed by Benjamin Rivera.

The hall will be filled with families with children of all ages, and all are welcome free of charge. If you want to join in, register to reserve your ticket at fwphil.org/events.

Introduction to orchestra, instruments

The orchestra begins at 11 a.m., but bring your kids at 10 a.m. because there are lots of activities for them in the lobby. 

They can make arts and crafts, learn about musical groups they can join, and read library books while you meet folks from several community organizations. Your kids can try out orchestral instruments for themselves, courtesy of Sweetwater.

I love these boisterous Saturday morning events, where parents bring their kids for their first exposure to an orchestra — and this time there’s a choir, too.

Webdell will lead the 45 members of the Philharmonic in The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, written in 1945 by British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), a 20-minute piece with narration by Melisa McCann. You’ll hear elaborate variations on a theme by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) skillfully written by Britten. 

As the title explains, this is to introduce children to the people in the orchestra and the music their instruments make: the woodwinds, strings, harp, brass, and percussion, each in turn, culminating in a monumental fugue for all the instruments.

Keeping a promise

Once inside the concert hall, the orchestra will pay tribute to the music of one of Webdell’s favorite composers, Theodorakis (1925-2021). 

While interest in Theodorakis’ music has waned in this country, he is remembered as one of the most important 20th-century composers throughout the world. Since this is the 100th anniversary of his birth, his native country, Greece, has declared a yearlong celebration of his music.

On offer are three lively, vibrant movements from Theodorakis’ ballet Zorba the Greek, orchestrations of themes he composed for the soundtrack of the triple-Oscar-winning, worldwide hit motion picture of the same name from 1964. The film was in turn based on the 1946 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis.

The orchestra will be backed by the singers of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Chorus.

Featured prominently is soloist Kostas Sotiropoulos on the bouzouki — an instrument rather like the acoustic guitar with a sound similar to a mandolin but lower in pitch. It’s the signature lead instrument of 20th-century Greek folk and pop music.

“Theodorakis did with the bouzouki what (Argentinian composer) Astor Piazzolla did with the bandoneon,” Webdell said. “Both instruments kind of had a seedy past, but both Piazzolla and Theodorakis brought them into the symphony and then made them popular throughout the world.”

Webdell, accompanied by his wife, the Philharmonic’s concertmaster Violetta Todorova, was able to visit Theodorakis in 2019 at his home in Athens some two years before his death.

“We talked with him and went over some scores,” Webdell said. “We talked about bringing his music here. So that’s what I’m doing now, honoring that also.”

On May 11 at PFW, you can also catch Webdell’s other Fort Wayne group, the Philharmonic Youth Orchestras, made up of the finest high school musicians in the region. 

Entitled Bagpipes and Bebop, their season-ending concert will feature competition winners Joel Heist on bagpipes, Gretchen Lowe on violin, Rushil Srikakolapu on jazz tenor saxophone, and Maria Tan on cello and Jonah Zimmerman on violin.

Looking toward next season

I’ve attended each of the four Family Series concerts Webdell has led the past two years. Each brings something unique and fascinates hundreds of children and their parents. 

Looking back on this season, on Oct. 26, we had Fables and Fairytales, featuring members of the Fort Wayne Ballet dancing the story of Peter Pan to James Newton Howard’s suite from the 2003 film. The children were really delighted.

On Jan. 25, we heard pieces from Black American composers, and Spanish composer Lorenzo Palomo’s setting of Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches, which the grown-ups appreciated as much as the kids.

My favorite so far was Feb. 22, with John Williams’ music from 2002’s Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and an amazing work from 2010, Philip Glass’ score to Icarus at the Edge of Time, a terrific science-fiction story about space exploration.

In October, as part of the Philharmonic’s 2025-26 season, Webdell will be leading another family concert series, revisiting his popular theme from last year, “Around the World.” Each concert will be based around a children’s book. 

On Oct. 18, “We’ll do a Day of the Dead, but have some different types of music, expanding from Mexico to South America.”

 On Jan. 31, “We’re going to be doing another Chinese New Year concert, which is the Year of the Horse. And for that we’ll have an erhu soloist, which is the Chinese violin, often associated with a horse actually. And we’re going to be having a commissioned piece for that one by a Korean composer.” 

That’s Caroline Kyunga Ahn, recently artist in residence at Anderson University.

On March 7, it will be “the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Middle Eastern Music, but a different take on it.”

On April 18, 2026, they’ll conclude with the book Octavia and the Cats of Rome by Claudia Cerulli, accompanied by excerpts from the beloved symphonic tone poems of Italian composer Ottorino Respighi.

Learn about all the upcoming shows from the Philharmonic at fwphil.org/events.