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Summer Pops 2018 - The Chorus of Westerly
Date and Time
Saturday Jun 23, 2018
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM EDTContact Information
The Chorus of Westerly George Kent Performance Hall 119 High Street Westerly, RI 02891 401.596.8663 chorusofwesterly.org
Send EmailSummer Pops 2018 - The Chorus of West...Description
THE CHORUS OF WESTERLY PRESENTS SUMMER POPS 2018
SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2018, 8 PM
WILCOX PARK, WESTERLY, RI
WESTERLY, RI – Booming cannons, extravagant fireworks, church bells, and the sound of 180 singers and 60 orchestral musicians will fill Westerly’s beautiful Wilcox Park on Saturday, June 23, at 8 pm, as the Chorus of Westerly presents its 38th annual Summer Pops performance. The concert will be conducted by Chorus of Westerly music director, Andrew Howell and features, The Chorus of Westerly, the Pops Festival Orchestra and special guest Roderick MacDonald, trumpet.
The Chorus of Westerly's Summer Pops 2018 will continue a long tradition of bringing to the forefront popular music for chorus and symphony orchestra to the Wilcox Park stage. This year, classic music of the Broadway stage from Bernstein as well as that of the great composers Verdi, Offenbach, and Haydn will be featured.
Among the highlights will be music from Bernstein's West Side Story and three exciting opera choruses: Verdi's Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore and Va Pensiero from Nabucco, and Offenbach's Can-Can from Orpheus in the Underworld. Patriotic hits will also dot the program including Stars and Stripes Forever, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and an audience sing along including Yankee Doodle Dandy and You're a Grand Old Flag.
Joining the Chorus of Westerly and Pops Festival Orchestra as special guest is acclaimed trumpet player Roderick MacDonald. Mr. MacDonald will present a second half set with the performance of beautiful solo music for trumpet, with Franz Joseph Haydn's Trumpet Concert in E-flat as the featured work.
The fun-filled program, suitable for the entire family, will close with Tchaikovsky's powerful 1812 Overture complete with fireworks by Grucci, cannons of the Newport Artillery, and the bells of Christ Church.
Summer Pops is a free event and no tickets are required. Summer Pops takes place in Westerly’s Wilcox Park with the main show at 8 pm with a pre-show at 6 pm. This year’s pre-show will again be emceed by Mr. Bob Elmer and features local area artists, The Beach Band with special guest Peter Niedmann, The Westerly High School Band, and The Westerly Morris Men. In the event of inclement weather, rain dates are scheduled for Sunday, June 24 and Monday, June 25.
Summer Pops is presented free to the community thanks to the major sponsorship of Yale New Haven Health Westerly Hospital and several hundred area businesses and individuals. The Westerly Public Library graciously offers use of Wilcox Park for Summer Pops to the Chorus of Westerly. For more information on the performance, including day of event weather updates, please visit www.chorusofwesterly.org or call 401.596.8663.
Those wishing to put down blankets in Wilcox Park early to reserve a spot may do so only after 5 pm on Friday, June 22, 2018. Blankets and items put down on Friday before 5pm, are allowed only if they are attended at all times. Unattended blankets placed before 5pm will be removed. In addition, any unattended coolers and/or any other items besides blankets will also be removed if left in the park prior to the event with no prior warning. Please note that parking in downtown Westerly will be limited to designated areas and traffic patterns will be modified before, during, and after the event.
About the concert
A staple in the southern New England arts landscape, Summer Pops 2018 will be the event’s 38th edition. However, in the beginning, four decades of Pops was not anticipated. In planning for the first concert in 1981, Summer Pops organizers intended the performance to be a one-time only event offered as thanks to the community for their support of the Chorus’s 1981 Concert Tour of Great Britain. But when the 1981 concert, held on the post office steps in downtown Westerly’s Dixon Square, proved to be incredibly popular and successful, the Chorus decided to repeat the event the following year. By 1983, audiences for the event had outgrown Dixon Square and the performance was moved permanently to Westerly’s Wilcox Park. Today, the tradition continues as more than 25,000 area residents attend the event each year, cultivating a strong pride in this geographic region.
About the fireworks
This year’s finale display from Fireworks by Grucci will feature close-proximity fireworks launched from inside Wilcox Park, adjacent to the park’s pond. A security and safety fence will be constructed around the pond and no seating will be allowed in that area during the show. Additional signage and security will be available to direct audience members in the park with the new set up. The new fireworks display this year, designed by Grucci will be a spectacular treat to the Pops audience and are perfectly safe.
In the event of rain
In the event of rain, the Chorus of Westerly will post notices around the park of the new date, announce it on WBLQ (1230 AM) and WCRI (95.9 FM) radio stations, and post notice on its website at www.chorusofwesterly.org. Rain dates are Sunday, June 24 and Monday, June 25.
About Roderick MacDonald, soloist
A native of Rhode Island and a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Mr. MacDonald began his musical studies at a young age. As a child, he received private instruction on both piano and trumpet. His passion for music continued to grow as he advanced through his youth. In 1982 he was awarded the prestigious “Leonard Bernstein Fellowship” at The Tanglewood Institute for trumpet study. He went on to earn degrees in Mechanical Engineering at University of Rhode Island (B.S. 1986) and in trumpet at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (M.M. 1988). Upon completion of his master’s degree at New England Conservatory, Kurt Masur, then Music Director of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, appointed him principal trumpet (1989) where he performed for over nearly decades. His career as a concert soloist began shortly after his Leipzig appointment and has since appeared worldwide as a trumpet soloist with highly regarded ensembles including: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, Virtuosi Saxonia, Bach Collegium Munich, Leipzig Bach Orchestra, Leipzig Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Leipzig, Kammerphilharmonie Leipzig, and the Super World Orchestra (Tokyo). Most recently, Mr. MacDonald appeared as a soloist with the Norwalk Symphony in Connecticut. With a discography of over 25 recordings with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, he can also be heard on recordings with the Leipzig Baroque Soloists, solo recordings, and numerous other chamber and orchestral albums. One of his solo albums was named "CD of the Month" by Naxos in December 2003.
Roderick MacDonald also excels as an orchestral conductor. A conducting pupil of Maestro Kurt Masur, Roderick MacDonald has enjoyed considerable success throughout Germany and the United States. He also returned to the U.S. to attend the Conductor's Seminar at The Tanglewood Institute where he studied with Maestro Bernard Haitink. He completed his formal conducting studies at the Leipzig Conservatory earning a Masters of Music in Orchestral Conducting (1994). In this same year he was announced as the winner of the “Deutsche Dirigenten Forum”, a conducting competition in Leipzig. In 2001, Mr. MacDonald received the Honorary Title of "Kammermusiker" from the city of Leipzig. Since his return to the U.S., Maestro has been a finalist for the position of Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic (1997) and Associate Conductor of the Dallas Symphony (2005). He returns to Germany each February to conduct members of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in a benefit concert for cancer research for children which he began in 2000. In June 2009, Mr. MacDonald served as a guest conductor with the MDR Orchestra at the Dresden Music Festival. He recently completed a recording project with flautist Gudrun Hinde-Hoenig of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
Mr. MacDonald is currently Associate Professor of Music at Fredonia (New York) as well as on the Brass Faculty at St. Georges School in Newport, RI. He also maintains an active performing and conducting career.
For further information on the pre-show performers (including more detailed biographies or photos), or on the in-park fireworks please contact Ryan Saunders at ryan@chorusofwesterly.org or 401.596.8663. Interviews with music director Andrew Howell or executive director Ryan Saunders can be arranged upon request.
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