Cincinnati Pops!

On Saturday morning, we drove down to Music Hall in downtown Cincinnati, home of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Pops. They had a "Lollipop Concert" for children, where they play kid-friendly songs and encourage children to come. IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Before the concert, the Pops had an "instrument petting zoo" in the ballroom of music hall. The ballroom itself was absolutely beautiful, and very, very old. Stretched all around the room were different symphony performers and students from the Cincinnati School for the Performing Arts, who were demonstrating their instruments for the children, and....get this....allowing them to try them! Our favorite station was the violin. The lady from the symphony actually gave a short little lesson to interested students, which my children definetly were! She was unbelievably nice.

Christopher absolutely LOVED that violin!

After an hour of testing-out instruments came our time to go to the actual concert hall. We had awesome seats in the balcony. Thankfully, for once, I hadn't bought bad tickets to see something!

The Pops did a great round of songs all about trains. They were SO GOOD. If you ever have the chance to see the Pops perform in person, I highly recommend it. They are one of the best symphonies in the world, and you have probably heard their music on soundtracks and songs. For example, that famous rendition of "Sleigh Ride" that you always hear on the radio at Christmas and on CD's was performed by the Cincinnati Pops.

The young children in the audience went crazy when Thomas the Train himself showed-up, and actually did an interview with John Morris Russell, the Pops Conductor. They also played the score from "The Polar Express," which sounded exactly like it did in the movie. They played pictures from the movie on the big screen above them. The last song featured the Cincinnati Children's Choir. Much impressive. My favorite song of all, though, was Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train." Totally jazzy.