Young People’s Concert

The Young Peoples Concert was established in 2016 as a partnership between Columbia Public Schools and The Missouri Symphony.  Each year, every third-grader in the school district is bussed to the historic Missouri Theatre where they are able to experience a live orchestra concert.  This aligns with their music curriculum, when they are learning about the parts of the orchestra.  The students are introduced to concert etiquette, each part of the orchestra and the different sounds they make, and each concert ends with Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, which further illustrates and highlights different instruments by assigning them to an animal.  The program has grown to include other area private schools and public schools as space allows.  It is MOSY’s goal to add a third performance in the future to bring in more students from surrounding school districts.

2024 Young People’s Concert:

Thursday, November 21, 2024 at the Missouri Theatre

Two performance times: 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

An event just for area students

MOSY’s Young People’s Concert is not open to the public, but we work directly with area school administrators to coordinate attendance for all area third-graders. If you are an administrator of a private school or home-school a third-grade student and would like to request attendance, please complete the form below. Registration will be open until November 1 or until all seats are filled.

Watch a past Young People’s Concert performance

The music director of the Missouri Symphony Orchestra (MSO) works directly with music teachers in Columbia Public Schools (CPS) to create a program that is both informative and entertaining for the young students. Generally, each piece features a different section of the orchestra, with it all culminating in a final piece where they all come together.

  • No. This concert is exclusively for area students and attendance is coordinated directly with school administrators. If you have a home-schooled student interested in attending, please email us here.

  • Generally, the YPC is held the Thursday before Thanksgiving.

  • If you would like to help us continue our mission and bring unique music experiences to mid-Missouri, visit our donation page here.