By Nick Sestanovich

Benicia Middle School’s band students will be joining more than 800 pupils from area schools to attend a pair of special Vallejo Symphony Orchestra performances at the Empress Theatre on Sunday. The best part? They will have the auditorium just to themselves as they take in the sounds of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony.

According to VSO conductor Marc Taddei, this is the first time the local symphony has put on such concerts, which he described as being in the vein of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, in which the noted conductor taught lessons on symphonic music for a younger audience. Taddei attended one of those concerts at a young age, and he assures that the setup will be similar.

“For our first concert, I thought it best to go with a proper concert that has been tailored for students,” he said.

Source: Benicia Middle Schoolers to sit in on exclusive performance of Vallejo Symphony Orchestra concert