Conductor Mei-Ann Chen: Courtesy photo
More than 100 young musicians from around the world will perform a free concert at 8 p.m. Friday at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands.

The Texas Music Festival Orchestra concert was preceded by a four-week instructive and competitive music program sponsored by the University of Houston Moore’s School of Music. Winners of the program’s competition will be honored during the concert.

Mei-Ann Chen, music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, will conduct the concert. The evening’s musical selections include Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral and Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3.

Pre-concert festivities on the plaza begin at 7 p.m. with an instrument petting zoo and a pre-concert discussion led by music scholar Ira J. Black.