April 16, 2010

Summer's Comin'!

Ahh, summer in Rochester. We wait so long, and when it comes, we cram so much into it! Well, no matter where you live, what your schedule looks like, or how your musical tastes run, the RPO covers the gamut this summer. And tickets are now on-sale!

Between the end of June and early August, we perform more than a dozen concerts in numerous venues indoors and out. We’re excited to share the news that we’ll be back at CMAC in Canandaigua for three of the most imaginative concerts you can think of. And lawn tickets are free for kids 12 and under for all our CMAC concerts. The Marcus Roberts Trio reprises its sold-out concert with the Berlin Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa in a swinging jazz fusion version of Gershwin’s Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra. Click here to see the incredible YouTube clip. Red, White, and Boom! conducted by Michael Butterman celebrates the holiday early with fireworks. Next, Jeff Tyzik takes the “swingin” up a couple of decades, in The Swingin’ Sixties and Seventies with the fabulous group, New York Voices. Finally, we “swing”- literally - from the rafters (okay, not the RPO musicians themselves), with a jaw-dropping group of some of the best Cirque acrobats returning by popular demand, in a custom-designed program of Cirque de la Symphonie specifically for the RPO and Jeff. So bring the family!

We’re also expanding last year’s new classical series at Hochstein to three concerts, now called Midsummer Classics, with world-class conductors and guest artists and pre-concert wine and music. Young Norwegian conductor Arild Remmereit - who made quite the impression in his RPO debut - opens the series with violinist Joan Kwuon in Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto. Love is in the air the following week, with our newlywed couple, Concertmaster Juliana Athayde and Principal Oboe Erik Behr sharing the stage in Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin conducted by Christopher Seaman. Juliana also performs Bach’s First Violin Concerto. Midsummer Classics concludes with a return of Jahja Ling leading the orchestra in Dvořák, with dynamic pianist Jessie Chang making her RPO debut in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17.

In addition to these two series, there are plenty of concerts to fill up your musical summer. Lots of Rochesterians have been followers of the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition. For the first time, the RPO will be accompanying these young pianists in the final round. What an opportunity to hear these teenagers before they make it onto the international music scene. We’ll also be the orchestra for the concert featuring the gifted young conductors participating in the Eastman School’s Conducting Institute.

And don’t forget the concerts at SUNY Geneseo, the annual fundraiser for Temple B’rith Kodesh, and the free concerts at Ontario Beach, Frontier Field, and our July 4th concert on the Main Street Bridge downtown with fireworks. (Photo here thanks to Walter Colley.) See you soon!

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