Submitted Photo Dylan Knell, Minot Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition winner, performs on cello.

The Minot Symphony Orchestra will present an afternoon of family-friendly music featuring Carnegie Hall’s “Link Up: The Orchestra Swings” on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m. in Ann Nicole Nelson Hall on the campus of Minot State University.

The concert is part of the orchestra’s 100th season and highlights jazz-inspired orchestral music while encouraging audience participation. The program will also showcase the symphony’s Young Artist Competition winner, Dylan Knell, a senior at Legacy High School in Bismarck.

Knell began studying cello at age 9 with Natalia Varcarciuc and has performed with school orchestras, youth orchestra, Strolling Strings, the Bismarck Mandan Symphony, chamber ensembles and regional music programs. He currently studies with Minot Symphony Orchestra principal cellist Dr. Erik Anderson and has participated in the UND Honors Orchestra, N.D. All-State Orchestra and Dakota Chamber Music. Knell will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations III.”

In conjunction with the concert, the orchestra will host its second annual Side-by-Side String Festival. String students from Devils Lake, Williston and Jamestown will take part in a three-day educational experience and perform alongside Minot Symphony Orchestra string musicians. Festival participants will open the concert as a combined string orchestra performing John Rutter’s “Suite for Strings.”

Festival activities include coaching sessions, sectionals, Baroque instrument demonstrations and a faculty showcase concert for participating students.

A musicology presentation will be held at 2 p.m. prior to the concert, offering insight into the music and themes of the program. The concert will feature upbeat jazz favorites including “When the Saints Go Marching In,” George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” and Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”

Following the presentation, Tim Baumann will host a reading of “The Nodak Do-Re-Mi’s” in the lobby. Eckroth Music of Minot will also host an Instrument Petting Zoo, giving attendees the opportunity to try string, woodwind and brass instruments.

Event participation is encouraged and recorders are welcome.

Advance tickets are encouraged and are available by contacting the MSO box office at 858-4228.

The Minot Symphony Orchestra is composed of student, community and professional musicians from the Minot area and is directed by Maestro Efrain Amaya, associate professor of performing arts at Minot State University.