Instrument Petting Zoo to perform this weekend at Staller Center for the Arts

Kids can get an up-close-and-personal introduction to the world of classical music Sunday, Nov. 3 in a concert performance of “Peter and the Wolf” at Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University.

The concert will be performed by the Instrument Petting Zoo, an outreach program where student musicians go to schools and libraries to introduce children to classic music through hands-on workshops.

Composed by Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf" is a symphonic fairy tale in which instruments portray characters, each evoking a different emotion from Peter’s happy and optimistic strings to the wolf's foreboding French horns.

This is the first concert performed by the Instrument Petting Zoo, says its outreach director, Peter Newland. “We wanted the program to showcase the individual instruments, and those being the characters in the story, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to introduce the instruments in the concert that the kids can try afterward,” says Newland.

The concert, which is recommended for children from ages 3 to 8, is at 3 p.m. Sunday.

For tickets or more information, go to stallercenter.com.