Passing the Torch | Beyond the Baton

On the first day of Friends in Harmony, free concerts by the Boston Symphony, school kids pour in from all over the city. Wilkins uses humor and surprise to engage his young audience as the orchestra plays Mussorgsky, Ravel, and Bach. Like Leonard Bernstein, whose young people’s concerts were broadcast live across America, Wilkins treats children as equals and they respond with excitement. By the second day of the concert, COVID-19 is taking over Boston and the world. The next morning, the audience is much smaller but, as Thomas says, “It was some of the most fun we ever had.”

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