AT THE RIVER, KISS ME, KATE and More Set for Boston Landmarks Orchestra's 2013 Season

The Boston Landmarks Orchestra (LO) announces its 2013 summer season at the DCR's historic Hatch Shell on Boston's Esplanade along the Charles River, and additional concerts and educational activities in Boston's neighborhoods. Concerts at the Hatch Shell take place every Wednesday at 7 pm, beginning July 17 and running through August 28. Neighborhood event times vary. All concerts are free. Rain information is posted on concert days on the orchestra's website, www.landmarksorchestra.org.

The orchestra's multi-faceted programming serves to bring together diverse communities of Greater Boston in the shared experience of great music. Access and inclusiveness lie at the heart of the LO mission. Every concert at the Hatch Shell features one or more community partners.

The season opens with "At the River," a new work by Northeastern University's Anthony De Ritis in a program paying tribute to city, state, and national parks. The concert features LO concertmaster Gregory Vitale as soloist and is part of Boston's inaugural "Outside the Box Festival." The following week, the LO performs alongside the celebrated Conservatory Lab Charter School's Dudamel Orchestra in a newly commissioned work by Michael Gandolfi, Composition Department Chair at the New England Conservatory of Music. An educational edition of this program will take place at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester on May 24. On July 31, salsa musicians join the LO in "A Night in the Tropics," a concert inspired by Latin American music and dance. Additional partnerships include two perennial favorites: Boston Lyric Opera and the medical community's Longwood Symphony, presented by the LO as a guest orchestra.

The summer concludes with two major collaborative projects. Commonwealth Shakespeare Company teams up with LO in a concert version of Cole Porter's exuberant "Kiss Me Kate," based on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." Then on August 28, the 50th anniversary to the day of DR. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, artists, schools, and organizations from throughout the region celebrate one of the greatest orations in American history. Music, imagery, the spoken word, a musical setting of the speech, and a performance of Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait make a stirring tribute to Dr. King and his vision.

According to the orchestra's Music Director, Christopher Wilkins, "the 2013 season offers outstanding concerts on Boston's Esplanade, in the heart of the city but a world away. Diverse traditions of symphonic music serve as a gathering point for the whole community."

Special events this season include a performance of Swanee Hunt's The Witness Cantata on June 9 at 2 pm, at Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain, as a tribute to the women of South Sudan. The Landmarks Winds perform at noon on June 21 at Brighton Landing as part of National Music Day. The Landmarks Brass Ensemble performs an additional concert in Jamaica Plain on July 14 at 6 pm at Pinebank Promontory, introduced by the young brass ensemble of the Conservatory Lab Charter School. And for the second year in a row, LO will perform at the WGBH/Boston Globe Summer Arts Weekend on July 28 at 4 pm in Copley Square.

The Boston Landmarks Orchestra is a national leader in welcoming audiences with disabilities. This summer, the orchestra again offers Braille programs, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, and ambassadors to help people who arrive via THE RIDE. Another LO trademark is The Maestro Zone at Hatch Shell concerts, where people of all ages can "conduct" the orchestra. Led by Assistant Conductor Benjamin Vickers, with a real score in front of him and straws as batons, the sheer joy of the music captures the hearts of everyone who gives it a try.

The board, staff, and musicians of the orchestra are deeply grateful to the Free for All Concert Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mabel Louise Riley Foundation, the Lynch Foundation, The Boston Foundation, the Liberty Mutual Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and many other foundations and generous individuals who make the season of free concerts possible.

Concerts at the DCR'S Hatch Shell:

July 17
Opening Night
Rhapsody in Green
Myran Parker-Brass, soprano
Gregory Vitale, violin

Anthony De Ritis At the River (premiere)
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Joh. Strauss, Jr. Tales from the Vienna Woods
Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Pastorale

The Landmarks Orchestra's annuAl Green concert, with music celebrating our city, state, and national parks, and honoring the men and women who protect and preserve them. This concert is part of the citywide Outside the Box Festival.

July 24
For the Ages
A Family Guide to the Orchestra
Robert Honeysucker, narrator

Joh. Strauss, Jr. Perpetuum mobile
Shore Lord of the Rings Symphonic Suite (excerpt)
Michael Gandolfi Double Concerto (premiere)
Britten Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
Brahms Symphony No. 1

The stirring first symphony of Brahms, Britten's guided tour, and the remarkable students of the Dudamel Orchestra alongside the pros, as symphonic music casts its enduring spell on each generation.

July 31
Fiesta sinfónica
A Night in the Tropics

Gottschalk A Night in the Tropics
Thomas Oboe Lee Mambo
Villa-Lobos The Little Train of the Brazilian Countryman
Moncayo Huapango
Gonzalo Grau Viaje

Two worlds meet in music inspired by Latin American song and dance spanning more than 150 years. The Landmarks Orchestra is joining a "pocket-sized salsa orchestra" for this performance.

August 7
Boston Lyric Opera

Popular operatic works, many drawn from Boston Lyric Opera's upcoming 2013/2014 season, featuring singers from BLO and led by Music Director David Angus.

August 14
Longwood Symphony Orchestra

The acclaimed orchestra of Boston's medical community and Music Director Ronald Feldman perform with the winner of the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Concerto Competition.

August 21
Boston Landmarks Orchestra and
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company present
Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate"

Shakespeare meets Broadway meets the Landmarks Orchestra. Two of Boston's premier summer institutions team up at the Hatch Shell in a semi-staged production of Cole Porter's theatrical masterpiece.

August 28
"I Have a Dream"
50th Anniversary Concert
Boston Landmarks One-City Choir
New England Spiritual Ensemble
New World Chorale,
Holly Krafka, artistic director
Boston Public Schools
Michelle Johnson, soprano
Davron Monroe, tenor
Philip Lima, baritone
André Ward, alto saxophone
James Westwater, photochoreographer

Tippett Four Spirituals from A Child of Our Time
Weill Cry, the Beloved Country
Steffe, arr. Wilhousky Battle Hymn of the Republic
Ellington 'Martin Luther King' from Three Black Kings
Hoiby I Have a Dream
Copland A Lincoln Portrait

To honor one of the greatest speeches in American history, the orchestra offers Boston's musical tribute to the inspiration and ideas that lie at the heart of Dr. King's dream.

Concerts in the community:

May 24
Strand Theatre
Dorchester
11 am, for an invited audience of students
with the Dudamel Orchestra of the
Conservatory Lab Charter School

Gandolfi: A Wizard's Guide to the Orchestra

Mussorgsky, arr. R-K Night on Bald Mountain
Howard Shore Lord of the Rings Suite (excerpts)
Brahms Symphony No. 1
Michael Gandolfi Garden of the Senses Suite
Gandolfi Double Concerto
Britten Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

June 9
Bethel AME Church
Jamaica Plain
2 pm
Jayne West, soprano
Mary Westbrook-Geha, mezzo-soprano
Yeghishe Manucharyan, tenor
Donald Wilkinson, baritone
Myran Parker-Brass, mezzo-soprano
Davron Monroe, tenor

Traditional Selected Spirituals
Weill Cry, the Beloved Country
(music from Lost in the Stars)
Swanee Hunt The Witness Cantata

June 21
Brighton Landing
10 Guest Street
Brighton
Noon

Landmarks Winds perform as part of National Music Day.

July 14
Pinebank Promontory
Jamaica Plain
6 pm

A family concert with Landmarks Brass and the brass ensemble of the Conservatory Lab Charter School.

July 28
WGBH/Boston Globe Summer Arts Weekend
Copley Square
Back Bay
4 pm

Shchedrin Carmen Suite for 5 percussion and strings (excerpts)

Selections by Galician bagpiper Carlos Nuñez and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra.

Notes in the Neighborhoods Educational Programs
Boston Landmarks Orchestra
City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department and
Boston Centers for Youth and Families present
Music Discovery Instrument Playgrounds

Thursday, July 11, Mildred Avenue Community Center, Mattapan
Thursday, July 18, Jackson/Mann Community Center, Allston
Thursday, July 25, Shelburne Community Center, Roxbury
Thursday, August 1, Paris Street Community Center, East Boston
Thursday, August 8, Pino Community Center, East Boston
Thursday, August 15, Tobin Community Center, Mission Hill
Tuesday, August 20, Children's Festival at Franklin Park

To post a comment, you must register and login.