Eugene Symphony - Free Concert

Monday
July 18, 2016
Bohemia Park

5:30 Instrument Petting Zoo - Join professional musicians in the Bohemia Park Pavilion for a hands-on experience with instruments from the symphony.  This free opportunity to try out musical instruments is brought to you by the Eugene Symphony Association and is open to all ages.

6:30 Cottage Grove's own Community Band will perform.  The Cottage Grove Community Band was started in 2010, as a way for local musicians to play together each summer without having to leave town, and is in its 7th summer program. The band was created and is directed by retired band director Bob Dill. Cottage Grove middle and high school directors Joanna Newton and Gabe Dickinson also help direct and conduct the band. The Cottage Grove Community Band is made up of community adult musicians of all ages, as well as current college students home for the summer, and a select group of current high school students. The band receives rehearsal space and support from the First Presbyterian Church of Cottage Grove (216 S. 3rd St.) and rehearses there weekly each June and July. The group will perform a concert at the church Thursday, July 21st at 7pm, along with performances by local school musicians taking part in a summer band camp. If you are interested in performing in the Cottage Grove Community Band in the future, or supporting it in a different way, please contact Bob Dill at 541-946-1041.

6:50 #instaballet performance - #instaballet is an interactive dance performance group that was founded in 2013 by Eugene Ballet Company dancers Antonio Anacan and Suzanne Haag. By using audience participation, #instaballet creates unique ballet performances on the spot, while giving the audience a behind-the-scenes look at how ballet is created in real-time. This format for presenting dance is original to #instaballet.

Since it's inception in 2013, #instaballet has be performed at the Lane Arts Council's First Friday ArtWalk, the City of Springfield's Second Friday Art Walk, the Walla Walla Dance Festival, Oregon Community Foundation's Studio to School Convening, Academy of Arts and Academics, Relief Nursery, and Bridgeway House. Upcoming performances include the Oregon Country Fair and the City of Eugene's pARTy on the Plaza. 

7:30 Eugene Symphony - The City of Cottage Grove and Bohemia Park welcome back the Eugene Symphony for the second performance of the 2016 Concert in the Park series.  

The idea of Maestro Danail Rachev in his first year as Eugene Symphony’s Music Director and Conductor, Eugene Symphony in the Park is now a favorite annual event in Eugene, Cottage Grove and Roseburg. 

“We love providing the opportunity to spend a summer evening outside listening to high-quality orchestral music with the community. It lets us showcase our orchestra to a broader audience beyond the concert hall,” says Maestro Rachev.  

“We are proud to offer this summer concert for the eighth time in Eugene and the second in Cottage Grove and Roseburg,” adds Matt Shapiro, President of the Eugene Symphony Board of Directors. “Every year, we are grateful we get this opportunity to give back to the communities that have supported us for now more than 50 years.”

Maestro Rachev will lead the orchestra in popular audience favorites, including some orchestral highlights from Williams’s Star Wars and Tchaikovsky’s Waltz from Swan Lake, plus Sousa’s Washington Post March, Suppé’s Overture to Light Cavalry, Dvorák’s Slavonic Dance No. 8, and Porter’s “Begin the Beguine.” Cellist Nora Willauer, Eugene Symphony’s 2015/16 Senior Divison Young Artist Competition winner, will perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Violist Maia Hoffman, Eugene Symphony’s 2015/16 Junior Divison Young Artist Competition winner, will perform Weber’s Andante & Rondo ongarese. Closing the concert, as always, will be Tchaikovsky’s impressive 1812 Overture.