BSO Kids - Meet the Conductor

Meet the Artists

The Bob Brown Puppets

The Bob Brown Puppets are one of the nation's leading producers of professional children's theater, touring throughout the eastern and midwestern United States.

Their many sponsors include the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater, Wolf Trap Farm Park for the performing arts, the White House, National Theater, and many major symphony orchestras throughout the United States and overseas. Young people recognize Bob and Judy Brown from their many guest appearances on MR. ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD.

They have been a major children's theater company for the past forty years, offering the finest in children's education and entertainment and performing to over 300,000 children a year.

The Enchantment Theatre Company

For more than 25 years, Enchantment Theatre Company has been producing innovative quality theater for children and their families. Recognized across America for its uniqueness, the Philadelphia-based Enchantment Theatre Company presents inspiring classic tales using a special blend of magic, mask, pantomime, puppetry and original music.

Founded in 1979 by Jennifer Blatchley Smith and Landis Smith, and expanded to an artistic partnership with Resident Director Leslie Reidel in 1995, Enchantment Theatre Company has toured its original productions all over the world. It has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Lincoln Center in New York City and the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Closer to home, the company has performed at the Academy of Music and The Kimmel Center with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and at the Annenberg Center as part of the International Children’s Theatre Festival. Enchantment Theatre Company has toured in the Far East six times, performing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Baltimore School for the Arts Dancers

The Baltimore School for the Arts Dancers engage in a rigorous and comprehensive program in both traditional ballet and modern technique. The course curriculum includes four years of ballet, modern dance, and pointe. In addition to this core curriculum, the Baltimore School for the Arts is fortunate to have a wide variety of esteemed guest artists teach and choreograph its students, including Barry Houghson, Hinton Battle, and David Parsons. Baltimore School for the Arts is one of the only performing arts high schools to have the honor of performing some of George Balanchine’s works, such as Serenade.

Gregory Smith

Gregory Smith (b. 1957) is one of the increasingly rare composers whose professional experience covers the entire range of the musical world from serious chamber music to movie scores.

His television music may be heard on all of the major networks as well as stations around the world. Current television credits include the ESPN College Football theme, the theme to "On The Inside" on the Discovery Channel and the theme to "Market Week" on CNBC. Smith is presently completing composition of the half-hour opening ceremony music for the February 2002 Salt Lake City Paralympics which will be telecast internationally.

Smith has scored dozens of episodes of the various "Star Trek" television series including the new "Enterprise" series. Smith has also arranged and conducted the songs for the Disney animated features "Pooh's Grand Adventure," and "Pocahontas II, Journey to a New Land." Enjoying a long association with the Walt Disney Company, he has served as Composer and Music Supervisor for numerous major productions at Disney theme parks around the world.

Rheda Becker

Rheda Becker is recognized as one of the outstanding professionals in the specialized art of the musical narrator. She made her debut in 1974 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and since then has appeared with them frequently as the speaker in works by Britten, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, Schuller and Tchaikovsky. She recently performed Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat.

In addition to guest performances with symphony orchestras throughout the United States, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ms. Becker has performed with chamber ensembles at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Boston’s Gardner Museum, and the Library of Congress. Her repertoire includes a wide variety of works ranging from the 14th century narrative, Le Roman de Fauvel, which she performed with the Folger Consort, to compositions by composers of the present day. She was the narrator in world premieres by the composers Ernst Krenek, Earl Kim, Robert Hall Lewis and Jonathan Holland.