The Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra performed a Holiday Concert in the Lake Eola Band Shell. The primary purpose of the FSYO is education. All programs reflect a commitment to provide young musicians with the opportunity to strengthen their musical talents and develop an appreciation of the arts through classical music.The first orchestra to perform was the Prelude Orchestra. A cow in a Santa suit got on the conductors podium as the children warmed up. The cow wasn’t a conductor at all! He was a mascot for Chick Fill-a promoting the mass murdering of chickens as apposed to cows. For the rest of the concert he remained on the sidelines, occasionally throwing cow T-shirts into the audience. Beth Marshall once told me that Chick Fill-a company policy does not recognize, and opposes same sex couples so I stopped eating there.
The first few pieces by the Symphony were embarrassingly bad yet there were enough parents in the audience to offer thunderous applause anyway. I was seated in the front row at stage right. I started sketching chairs to block in the sketch figuring I would fill them with children when they got on stage. Unfortunately the first orchestra only filled a few seats. The next orchestra was filled with slightly older children and the music started to feel more unified. A special guest was announced and Santa Conducted the orchestra. Audience members brought new gifts and donations for the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Program. The concert will air Christmas morning at 6am on WMKG-TV Local 6.