Every year, the Boise Philharmonic invites 14,000 local elementary school students to the Children’s Concerts, a free, full orchestral exploration of music on a theme. Today, three of nine shows will take place at the Morrison Center, and Boise State Distinguished Educator Barbara Morgan is part of the experience.

Titled “Musical Tour of the Planets,” the concerts are designed to integrate music with Idaho curriculum, and Morgan sees them as a unique form of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Boise Philharmonic Music Director Robert Franz and his orchestra will play Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” a powerful masterwork representing the personalities of each planet in Earth’s solar system. Interlaced with the music will be commentary by Morgan, a former NASA astronaut with vivid memories of being on the shuttle and International Space Station. Morgan participated in NASA’s Teacher in Space program and launched in August 2007 as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s STS-118 mission.

In addition to the dynamic convergence of Morgan and the Boise Philharmonic musicians on stage, the students have been preparing for the shows (also at Meridian Middle School Jan. 25 and Northwest Nazarene University Jan. 27) with a cross-curricular unit about the planets. Part of their work includes space-related art, which will be projected during the concerts.

For more about the Childrens’ Concerts and Morgan’s participation, click here.