PORTLAND — The Portland Symphony Orchestra, led by PSO Music Director Eckart Preu, and the Portland Ballet bring “Peter and the Wolf,” a favorite classic children’s tale, to life at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, at the Merrill Auditorium.

Ticket holders are invited to arrive starting at 1 p.m., when Maestro Preu will lead hands-on conducting lessons at the PSO Podium Hero, while in another room, PSO musicians will share the different orchestra instruments and give lessons of their own at a hands-on Instrument Petting Zoo. “Peter and the Wolf” will be narrated by guest Curt Dale Clark, artistic director of the Maine State Music Theatre.

The 50-minute concert will start at 2:30 p.m. Costumes are encouraged.

The program includes Mancini: Pink Panther; Rossini: Overture to La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie); Handel: Allegro from Organ Concerto HWV 295 (“The Cuckoo and the Nightingale”); Thomas: The Chicken Dance; Saint-Saens: Elephant and The Swan from Carnival of the Animals; and Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf.

Guests for the program include the Portland Ballet, Curt Dale Clark and James Kennerly, Portland municipal organist, Kotzschmar Organ.

All tickets are $10. The concerts are designed for ages 4 to 12, but enjoyable for all. Tickets are available through PortTIX at 207-842-0800 or PortlandSymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Merrill Auditorium box office at 20 Myrtle St. from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

More information can be found at www.portlandsymphony.org.