TOS Review: Maestro Classics

If you have not yet heard of them, I am very excited to get to tell you about Maestro Classics.  

Maestro Classics are a collection of classic stories put to beautiful music.  The music is performed by the world renown London Philharmonic Orchestra and narrated by Yadu.

Maestro Classics are directed and produced by husband and wife team Stephen and Bonnie Simon.  Their mission is "To cultivate a love of music through education and joyful performances."

Maestro Classics are offered in either CD or MP3 format.  They currently offer 10 different titles to choose from including Peter and the Wolf, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and Juanita the Spanish Lobster in English or Spanish. 

Each story retails for $16.95 (CD) and $9.98 (MP3) or you can purchase a pack of 9 stories for $128.00-a savings of $25.00!

We have recently had the pleasure of listening to The Story of Swan Lake.  Mustang and I have really enjoyed the beautiful orchestra music and story telling by narrator Yadu.  

When I first put Swan Lake in our CD player, I was not sure how it would be received.  My children are used to fast paced media and electronic products.  Charger and Mini Cooper currently have a very short attention span, so they didn't stick around long.  But, since the Maestro Classics are geared toward ages 5-12, I wasn't surprised.  Mustang, on the other hand, sat through the entire story.  

Mustang is familiar with the Story of Swan Lake, so I didn't tell her what we were listening to before I hit play.  It didn't take long before she was excitedly telling me-Mommy, it's the story about Odead (yes we have fixed the pronunciation)!! Mustang listened very intently, sitting as close to the CD player as she could so that she didn't miss anything.  That is, except the parts where she was up pretending to be a ballerina.  

The quality of the recording is excellent and the packaging is beautiful.  Not only do you get to hear the story, but there is information about the life of Peter Tchaikovsky and a number of other cool bonus features on the CD.  

Maestro Classics doesn't stop at just the listening aspects of learning.  On their website, they offer a ton of great educational materials and links to help enhance the stories on their CD's.  The lists are quite extensive and make teaching any of their stories easy and fun.

I think Maestro Classics would make a great addition to any listening library.  They are great for listening at home or in the car (if your CD player isn't broken *sigh*).  They would also make a nice gift (Valentine's and Easter will be here soon!).  

If you would like to read additional reviews of Maestro Classics, check out the TOS Crew Review Blog. 

God Bless!!!

This is a review for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine review crew.  Thank you to Maestro Classics for providing my family with a complementary copy of The Story of Swan Lake for our review.  I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.