Manchester Music Festival Family Concerts

The Manchester Music Festival began offering mini versions of our formal evening concerts in 1996. Our Family Concerts are geared toward younger audiences and are offered to the public during the afternoon. MMF's Artistic Director, Ariel Rudiakov, gives audiences historical background on each performance and sometimes enlists the assistance of historical figures. Audiences have recently been delighted by visits from composer Antonio Vivaldi conducting musicians playing his "Four Seasons" and Benjamin Franklin speaking about his invention, the glass armonica. MMF's Michael Rudiakov Music Academy and Manchester Youth Ensemble students add a youthful exuberance to our December Family Concerts, performing part of the program with the professional musicians. MMF has also premiered student compositions at our Family Concerts.

On September 29, 2012 the Manchester Music Festival String Quartet (Joana Genova and David Lisker, violins; Ariel Rudiakov, viola; Benjamin Capps, cello) presented a family concert titled "Music From the Shelves" at the Mark Skinner Library in Manchester. Janet Kleinberg, Youth Services Librarian had a display of music related books and read "Zin, Zin, Zin A Violin". The musical pieces were interspersed with excerpts from books.