In its 64th season, the Topeka Symphony has found a new partner, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. As a library employee, it brings me great pleasure to aid in that partnership through the production of these videos. Here's part two in a series of videocasts promoting the symphony's season of spectacular classical music. (Part one can be found here.)

In this process, I'm learning a lot about classical music, and finding it's a lot more interesting than I previously thought. It's opening new doors for me and allowed me to meet new people, like John Strickler, conductor of the Topeka Symphony, and Bob Keckeisen, its principal percussionist, who also serves as director for the Kansas State Historical Society Museum.

"Well, we're doing two works that are new for the Topeka Symphony, so I think that's exciting," Keckeisen said, of the upcoming show at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 24. "So, I hope people come away with an appreciation for the diversity of music that we play and that we bring to Northeast Kansas."

Keckeisen told me he wants the audience to relax and enjoy the music of this upcoming performance, called "The French Connection," which celebrates the connection between America and France and the impact French culture had on classical music composers.

The Topeka Symphony is bringing Stephen Hamilton, of New York City, to accompany the orchestra on organ. The video above shows the group playing without Hamilton. He joined them for later rehearsals and will surely make a positive and remarkable impact on this performance.

But even without him, the video above is worth a watch. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

The Topeka Symphony's schedule can be found at topekasymphony.org.

If you want to form your own French Connection, check out these materials at your library.

An American in Paris [DVD] (1951)
Follow the romantic adventures of a carefree young artist in post-World War II Paris. The 1951 Oscar winner for “Best Picture” starring Gene Kelly.

I’ll Always Have Paris by Art Buchwald [Nonfiction Book] (1996)
Buchwald gloriously recreates the adventurous, liberated spirit of expatriate Paris, as he hobnobs with Janet Flanner, E.B. White, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Thornton Wilder.

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring; Petrushka; 
The Firebird; Apollo [Music CD] (2008)
Hear four of Stravinsky’s groundbreaking pieces all in one two-disc set.

Paris, je t’aime [DVD] (2007)
Romantic, haunting, dramatic, and beautiful stories create a panoramic portrait of Paris.
 
The Art of the Ballets Russes: 
the Russian seasons in Paris, 1908-1929  [Nonfiction Book] (1991)
The opulent costumes and sets produced for the legendary collaboration of Diaghilev, Nijinsky, and Stravinsky.
 
Marie, Dancing by Carolyn Meyer [YA Fiction Book] (2005)
The story of a fourteen-year-old ballerina studying in Paris who became the model for the famous statue “The Little Dancer” by Edgar Degas.
 
The Turning by Gloria Whelan [YA Fiction Book] (2006)
A young dancer with the Kirov Ballet struggles to decide whether to defect while on an upcoming trip to Paris.
 
Aaron Copland and his World [Nonfiction Book] (2005)
America’s greatest composer had a very important “French connection”.  He studied with the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and he credits her as his most significant mentor.
 
George Gershwin: his life and work by Howard Pollack [Nonfiction Book] (2006)
America’s most popular composer also studied in Paris with Boulanger.  His sojourn was the inspiration for “An American in Paris”.
 
Stravinsky: The Second Exile: France and America, 
1934-1971 by Stephen Walsh [Nonfiction Book] (2006) 
Perhaps the greatest composer of the twentieth century, Igor Stravinsky left his native Russia after the Communist Revolution.  He spent the rest of his life in Paris and Los Angeles.
 
Nadia Boulanger: a Life in Music by Leonie Rosenstiel [Nonfiction Book] (1982) 
Madame Boulanger was perhaps the greatest musical pedagogue who ever lived.  She influenced many great composers, including Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, and Aaron Copland.