The inside of Vincenzo’s Pizza in Newhall was transformed into a concert hall as young musicians took the stage with guitars and pianos to celebrate the third annual Kids Music Day.
The Kids Music Day celebration was sponsored by Oksana Kolesnikova and her husband, Alex Concas, through their education and lifestyle support agency, Oksana Management Group, or OMG.
Kids Music Day is an international celebration created by the Keep Music Alive nonprofit in order to promote the importance of youth musical education. The event can take place any time Oct. 1-14, according to the Kids Music Day website.
“We were contacted by the Keep Music Alive organization, who asked us to host this wonderful event for the Santa Clarita area,” Kolesnikova said. “We looked into the organization and really loved their mission to engage kids in music. Music should be present in every person’s life and I really like this event because the children who perform and the people who come to support them can really see the impact that music can make.”
Elizabeth Cook and her son Levon said they were excited about the event because it was a way for them to have fun as a family.
“We’re not sports people, so we’re left out of that part of the community, but we love music,” Elizabeth said. “Having music events like this definitely adds a lot of value to the community.”
Levon, who played a movie soundtrack melody featuring themes from “Mission Impossible,” “James Bond,” “Batman,” “Spiderman” and “Iron Man,” said that he was happy to participate in the event because it helped him “get my name out there.”
Levon’s instructor Bruno Parente kicked the open mic-style event off with a performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” before turning the stage over to his student.
“Some people learn music for themselves, which is OK, but the real value is in performing music for other people,” Parente said. “It’s like a test.”
Kolesnikova plans to continue to host Kids Music Day in the future, she said, and hopes as the event continues to grow that it’ll help inspire the next generation of musicians.
“There’s a lot of scientific evidence that says learning music can help children with self-esteem, boost their grades and teach discipline,” Kolesnikova said. “It’s a great creative outlet and being on stage does wonders to boost a child’s confidence.”
