Students attend music classes at the Anisio Teixeira school, which is funded in part by a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant. Rotary Images/Alyce Henson
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) began playing at the keyboard at the age of three, and composed his first music at four. By age 12, he had composed two operas, La Finta Semplice (The Feigned Innocent) and Bastien and Bastienne. To find out fun historical facts about symphonies, visit The Symphony, an interactive guide .
- A symphony orchestra has four sections: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. The major difference between a chamber orchestra and symphony (or philharmonic) orchestra is size. Chamber orchestras tend to be smaller, designed for cozier venues, and have about two-thirds the number of strings, as well as fewer horns and percussion instruments. For a cool look at the evolution of the symphony, visit the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Web site for kids .
- Rotarians attending the 1931 RI Convention in Vienna, Austria, were treated to a performance of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow by the composer himself, a member of the Rotary Club of Vienna. Other Rotarian composers included Jean Sibelius, once a member of the Rotary Club of Helsinki-Helsingflors, Finland, and Sigmund Romberg, a former member of the Rotary Club of New York. Find out about more famous Rotarians at the Rotary Global History Fellowship .