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July 20, 2007

The Philadelphia Orchestra Comes to My Park

The Philadelphia Orchestra Comes to My Park

IT TAKES TEAMWORK to put on an open-air concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Before the oboes start oboeing, before the timpani players tintinambulate, before the maestro drops his baton, two days worth of construction goes on to build a stage worth of the musicians and their million dollars-worth of instruments.

This was the scene yesterday afternoon in the natural bowl of Clark Park in West Philadelphia where this team of stage assemblers raised the final aluminum tower to support the roof that will protect the orchestra during Saturday night's free concert just down the street from our house (and wasn't it sweet of them to name the park after me 80 years before we moved there?).

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This is the second of the Philadelphia Orchestra's neighborhood concert series this summer, and a return visit by the orchestra to what the corporate sponsors describe as "University City’s beloved community greenspace" which hosts music festivals, Shakespeare performances and outdoor movies during the summer and autumn. Saturday night's concert will feature conductor Rossen Milanov leading the fabulous Philadelphians in a repetoir feauring Chabrier’s España, Bizet’s Suite No. 2, from Carmen, and my personal favorite, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, which you usually find on the flip side of Schaherazade. Also on the playbill is Marquez’s Danzon, Barber’s Suite from Souvenirs, and Ravel’s Bolero.

Not a bad night under the stars. The show starts at seven. Come early and bring a blanket to grab a good spot.

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