Midcoast Symphony Orchestra launches children’s concert in Topsham

Families in Topsham will get a short, low-cost first symphony experience Sunday afternoon when the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra brings its first-ever children’s concert to the Orion Performing Arts Center inside Mt. Ararat Middle School. The program is built around familiar pieces, a run time of about 45 minutes and a free 1:30 p.m. Meet the Instruments session that lets children try trumpets, violins, timpani and other orchestral instruments before the concert begins.

Tickets are $15, and listeners 25 and under receive free admission, with those free tickets to be reserved at least 24 hours ahead when possible. The orchestra opened the run Saturday at the Donald M. Gay Performing Arts Center at Edward Little High School in Auburn, extending the same format across the weekend for families in Sagadahoc County and the surrounding region.

The concert program leans on recognizable music, including The William Tell Overture and Waka Waka, to give younger listeners an easier entry point into orchestral music. MSO’s pitch is straightforward: shorter pieces, a lighter atmosphere and a less formal setting than a standard subscription concert.

The preconcert instrument session is part of MSO’s More with Midcoast outreach series. The orchestra says those events are free and are designed to let audience members go behind the scenes, interact with musicians and learn how the instruments work in practice. That makes the concert more than a sit-down performance, turning it into a hands-on introduction for children who may be seeing an orchestra up close for the first time.

Behind the new format is an organization with deep roots. MSO says its members volunteer their time to rehearse and perform, and Rohan Smith has served as conductor and music director since the 2003-2004 season. His leadership has helped the orchestra expand in size and capability, while keeping the group anchored in the Midcoast’s volunteer arts tradition.

The children’s concerts also fit a pattern. A youth-oriented MSO program in January 2025 used short, accessible works and a Meet the Instruments component, suggesting the June concerts are part of a broader audience-building strategy rather than a one-off experiment. For Topsham, the result is a weekend event that gives families a nearby entry point into live classical music and gives the orchestra a chance to build the next generation of listeners.