Thu 7/3-Fri 7/4 @ 8PM
Once again, the Blossom Festival Orchestra is back at Blossom Music Center for its long-running, traditional July 4 concerts, this year with freelance conductor Michelle Rakers, an alumna of United States Marine Band, on the podium.
What will the play? No surprises here: patriotic songs, Broadway hits, an Armed Forces salute. They’ll open with The Star-Spangled Banner, and wend their way through a host of American composers, both well-known (Aaron Copland, John Williams, Leonard Bernstein) and not so much (Clare Grundman, 1913-1996, a Shaw High School graduate; Count Basie Orchestra arranger Sammy Nestico, 1924-2021, 36-year-old Canadian composer Ryan George — no, Canada hasn’t been annexed yet; he’s just a wild card). The evening closes with “America the Beautiful” which my mother always advocated for replacing The Star-Spangled Band with (more positive and uplifting, easier to sing) and, weather permitting, fireworks.
Get tickets here.