CEDAR FALLS - Jason Weinberger was in the aisle of the Great Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, greeting schoolchildren as they filed into their seats.

When they looked up, Weinberger was on the podium, raising his baton and beginning the annual spring series of Youth Concerts, presented by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra. After the 45-minute concert was finished, Weinberger headed out to the lobby, where he high-fived students as they left the hall.

Nearly 4,000 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders attended Tuesday's annual Youth Concerts, representing 50 Northeast Iowa schools, along with about 50 home-schooled children.

The event is the area's largest one-day music education project.

"Without question, these are among my favorite concerts of the entire year. I love - and deeply appreciate - the opportunity to bring live music to young people in a way that ignites their curiosity and extends their learning experience. And onstage we have tons of fun doing it," said Weinberger.

WCFSO Executive Director Susan Munnik said the day is an exciting one.

"It's so gratifying to see the hall fill with over 4,000 kids over the course of the day, with many of these students experiencing their first live orchestra performance," she said.

Munnik described it as a "wonderful community effort," involving the symphony's Friends organization and financial support from the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Music Director Weinberger put together a program focused on "Home and Away: Antonin Dvorak." The program featured excerpts from Dvorak's "Slavonic Dances," his symphonies and his serenade for strings and winds, as well as music by American composers George Gershwin, John Philip Sousa and Aaron Copland.

Nathan Friend, an 11th-grade cellist from Boone and winner of the 2008 Young Artist Concerto Competition, sponsored by the Friends of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, performed the first movement of Saint Saens' Concerto No. 1 in A minor.

Contact Melody Parker

at (319) 291-1429

or melody.parker@wcfcourier.com.