Boston Landmarks Orchestra Offers Free Concerts This Summer, Starting Today

Inspired by the musical connection of people, place, and culture, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Christopher Wilkins, announces the 2015 summer's free concerts at the DCR's Hatch Shell. Free concerts will be held every Wednesday evening (7 p.m.) beginning today, July 15, thru August 26, 2015.

Neighborhood concerts and youth engagement residencies featuring Brazilian composer, pianist and vocalist Clarice Assad continue throughout the summer beginning on July 12 (6 p.m.) at Pinebank Promontory in Jamaica Plain and through August 14 at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester. For more information and schedule visit landmarksorchestra.org.

Eagerly anticipating her first summer as Executive Director, Jo Frances Meyer says, "I am over the moon about our 2015 season, not only because of the brilliant musical programming that we have come to expect from our Music Director Chris Wilkins, but also because of the depth and breadth of our community partners and collaborations, which continue to grow year after year. It's this entire package that makes Landmarks Orchestra so unique in Boston, and so beloved!"

JULY 15 - OPENING NIGHT: RHAPSODY IN GREEN
Boston Landmarks Orchestra / Christopher Wilkins, conductor
Jayne West, soprano
ASL poetry by Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Mysteries of the sea resonate in Debussy's La Mer and Hovhaness' And God Created Great Whales. Hometown favorite Jayne West performs Berklee Professor Francine Trester's gorgeous new setting of At the River. Pulitzer Prize winning composer Kevin Puts' miniature tone poem flows with melodic waves and whirling orchestral color. (Rain date/location TBD)

At the River (World Premiere) by Francine Trester
The Hebrides? by Felix Mendelssohn
And God Created Great Whales by ?Alan Hovhaness
River's Rush (New England Premiere) by Kevin Puts
La Mer by? Claude Debussy

JULY 22 - FIESTA SINFÓNICA
Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Christopher Wilkins, conductor
Alex Alvear
BAJUCOL Folkloric Ballet (Miguel Vargas, director)
Dudamel Orchestra of the Conservatory Lab Charter School (Adrian Anantawan, director)

Salsa meets symphony when Alex Alvear's "pocket-sized salsa orchestra" heats up the Esplanade again this summer. From mambo to merengue, the spirit of dance permeates an evening of Latin symphonic music. The folkloric dancers of BAJUCOL and the gifted young musicians of the Conservatory Lab Charter School join Boston's leading performers of Latin jazz. Rain date: July 23 at Hatch Shell

El salón México by Aaron Copland
Santa Cruz de Pacairigua (New England Premiere) by Evencio Castellanos
Mambo Concierto (New England Premiere) by Alice Gómez
Andean Suite (World Premiere) by Gonzalo Grau
Viaje (Voyage) by Gonzalo Grau - excerpt for Latin Combo, Symphony Orchestra, and Soloists

JULY 29 - LONGWOOD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Longwood's Music Director Ronald Feldman will conduct the Boston medical community orchestra's annual performance at the Hatch Shell. This year's program "A Night at the Ballet" features familiar ballet music including Stravinsky's masterpiece The Firebird, and Offenbach's delightful Gaîté Parisienne.

The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky
Gaîté Parisienne by Jacques Offenbach

AUGUST 5 - ITALIAN NIGHT
Boston Landmarks Orchestra / Christopher Wilkins, conductor
Barbara Shirvis, soprano
Stephen Powell, baritone
One City Choir
Back Bay Chorale (Scott Allen Jarrett, music director)
North End Music and Performing Arts Center

The Golden Age of Italian opera is about passion writ large. Its music now occupies a central place on the concert stages of the world. The thrilling voices of two stars of American opera join a coalition of outstanding Boston-area choruses. Also on the program, the festive and lyrical music from one of Fellini's greatest films "La Strada," by Nino Rota-who later composed music for "The Godfather." Rain date: August 6at Hatch Shell

Pagliacci: Prologue by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo & "Regina coeli" by Pietro Mascagni
Otello: "Dove guardi" & Iago's Credo by Giuseppe Verdi
Tosca: Te Deum by Giacomo Puccini
La strada: Ballet Suite (excerpts) by Nino Rota
Nabucco: Overture and "Va, pensiero" by Verdi
Aida: Ballet and Triumphal March by Verdi

AUGUST 12 - SHEHERAZADE MEETS CLARICE ASSAD
Boston Landmarks Orchestra / Christopher Wilkins, conductor
Clarice Assad, piano and vocals
Keita Ogawa, percussion
ZUMIX, Grooversity , Camp Harbor View

Brazilian composer, pianist and vocalist Clarice Assad creates a joyful collaboration with neighborhood ensembles in music inspired by folk dance, storytelling and memories of childhood. Sheherazade, the vibrant symphonic poem based on One Thousand and One Nights, is the well-loved creation of Rimsky-Korsakov who, as a Russian naval officer, once set anchor in Rio de Janeiro. Rain date: August 13 at Hatch Shell

Thanks in part to a grant from The League of American Orchestras and New Music USA, Clarice Assad will be in Boston for residencies with the Landmarks Orchestra in July and August. She will lead workshops at Camp Harbor View, Grooversity, and ZUMIX. Young performers from these groups will participate in this concert.

Mother Goose (complete ballet) by Maurice Ravel
Batuque?by Oscar Lorenzo Fernández
Assad Selected Works by Clarice Assad
World Premiere of New Work by Clarice Assad
Sheherazade? by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov

AUGUST 19 - DRUMS ALONG THE CHARLES
Boston Landmarks Orchestra / Christopher Wilkins, conductor
Jeffrey Fischer and Robert Schulz, timpanists
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, Yawkey Club of Roxbury

The Esplanade resounds with rhythms and dances of many ages and cultures. The Swordfishers features replicas of ancient stone instruments fashioned by a New England culture that thrived thousands of years ago. Philip Glass's Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists marks the orchestra's first performance of music by one of America's most influential composers. Rachmaninoff's final work-the brilliant and rhapsodic Symphonic Dances-caps the night. Rain date: August 20 at Hatch Shell

Sabre Dance from Gayane?by Aram Khachaturian
The Swordfishers (World Premiere) by Donald Krishnaswami
Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists (New England Premiere) by Philip Glass
Symphonic Dances by Sergei Rachmaninoff

AUGUST 26 - A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Boston Landmarks Orchestra / Christopher Wilkins, conductor
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company / Steven Maler, director

Stage and musical stars of Boston collaborate in the most celebrated of all musical scores written for a classic play. A Midsummer Night's Dream is the most renowned, the most successful, and the most perfect incidental music in history. The famed Wedding March signals the story's happy ending, even though "the course of true love never did run smooth." Rain date: August 27 at Hatch Shell

NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILY CONCERTS

Sunday, July 12; 6 p.m. at Pinebank Promontory, Jamaica Plain
Clarice Assad and Friends will join musicians from the Boston Landmarks Orchestra for a free concert next to Jamaica Pond. The event, which is presented in partnership with the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, will also include an Instrument Playground.

Friday, August 14 time TBD at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Clarice Assad and Friends will join musicians from the Boston Landmarks Orchestra for a free concert at the JFK Library in Dorchester as part of The Highland Street Foundation's Free Fun Fridays initiative.

The Boston Landmarks Orchestra was founded in 2001 by the late Charles Ansbacher as an extension of his desire to make the arts a significant part of people's lives, regardless of their wealth or education. In its earliest years, the orchestra performed in such historically important settings as Fenway Park, the USS CONSTITUTION pier, Jamaica Pond, Franklin Park, Copley Square, Boston Common, and other landmark locations. Since 2007, its principal home has been at the DCR's Hatch Memorial Shell. For more history visit http://www.landmarksorchestra.org/About.html.

2015 Performing Partners include Back Bay Chorale, BAJUCOL Folkloric Ballet, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston's Yawkey Club of Roxbury, Camp Harbor View, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Conservatory Lab Charter School. Grooversity, Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Longwood Symphony Orchestra, North End Music and Performing Arts Center, One City Choir and ZUMIX.

These programs are supported in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency, which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor's Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events.

Boston Landmarks Orchestra's 2015 sponsors include the Free for All Concert Fund, The Boston Foundation, the Liberty Mutual Foundation, the Highland Street Foundation, The Boston Globe, WCRB-FM, and WCVB-TV Channel 5.

To post a comment, you must register and login.