ORONO – You’d think not much could compete with Mozart and Mussorgsky, followed by Sousa’s rousing march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” but for Taylor Rogers, Henry Mancini is tops.

“The ‘Pink Panther’ was still my favorite,” the 8-year-old said Monday morning at the end of her first-ever concert, one of three Bangor Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerts held one day each year.

Taylor, the daughter of Holly Hatch and Tim Rogers of Bangor, said “still” because she and other third-graders in Margaret Welch’s class at Bangor’s Downeast School were already familiar with much of the concert’s music.

Then, wide eyes fixed on the musicians, the youngster waved her hands gently or shook her fists vigorously to the tempo of the Sousa march – patterns she had learned in Michele Hall’s music classes.

Taylor wasn’t the only potential conductor in the room.

Fourth-grader Haley Bowden of Orland Consolidated School was the lucky one called forward by conductor Xiao-Lu Li to lead the orchestra in “Stars and Stripes.”

Haley stepped forward confidently and kept good time with Li’s baton while he stood off to one side. It was hard to believe she hadn’t rehearsed with the sprightly piccolo, crashing cymbals and booming drums of the popular march.

Equally powerful was the orchestra’s performance of “The Great Gate of Kiev,” the final movement to Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” which the orchestra also had played Sunday during its regular concert.

Monday, some 4,000 grade-schoolers from throughout the state were bused in for the concerts at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. Many raised their hands to tell Li that they had been to concerts before, but for many of the pupils it was their first such experience.

In addition to hearing the professional musicians play together, the youngsters received an introduction to each type of instrument in the orchestra, hearing the musicians play solo and then with others in their section.

“I like the way you concentrate, listening,” Li told the attentive children.

No doubt there were numerous future musicians in the audience, but there also was a potential doctor on stage.

Emily Frank, an 11th-grader at Wayneflete School in Portland, joined the orchestra for Monday’s concerts by virtue of having been a finalist in January’s BSO High School Concerto Competition.

The young oboeist, who was runner-up in that competition, said after Monday’s concert that she’s thinking about pursuing neurology as a career, although she’d like to continue playing in ensembles on the side.

Monday’s experience left her impressed with “the sound we could produce,” and it didn’t hurt that Mussorgsky is a favorite of hers.

She added with a grin, “I would choose playing ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ any day over math class. It’s a great way to spend the day.”

Taylor Rogers would agree with that. “It was neat,” she offered.

The youth concerts are one of the outreach programs offered by Bangor Symphony Orchestra. For information on BSO activities, call 942-5555, or check www.bangorsymphony.com.