An All-American program of Big Band music from the 1920s and 1930s, a local 14-year-old trumpet virtuoso, patriotic standards and Wild West film favorites will take the stage on July 4 in the third annual Independence Day on the Green concert at Sonoma State University. The event is expected to sell out at 4,000 people.
The concert is one of three outdoor Green Music Festival events this summer that offer picnicking, fine wines and food in a relaxing lakeside setting on the SSU campus. This year's theme, selected by Festival Artistic Director Jeffrey Kahane, is "On Common Ground: Evolving Landscapes in Music, Arts and Ideas."
At 7:30 p.m., Jeff Tyzik, Principal Pops conductor for the Rochester Philharmonic, returns to lead the Santa Rosa Symphony in an new program of All-American music. Reflecting this year's Festival theme of "landscapes," Tyzik honors our country with symphonic evocations of the countryside itself. Gallop across the plains; hide out in theBadlands. Rousing patriotic favorites are seasoned with a sampling of rip-roaring Wild West movie scores. Dazzling fireworks immediately follow the concert.
Gates open at 4 p.m. for pre-concert activities that include games and music for kids, roving Wild West and patriotic characters, a demonstration of landscape painting by the Sonoma County Museum, picnicking and fine wines.
At 5 p.m., the highly regarded 15-piece San Francisco Starlight Orchestra takes the stage to bring back the magic of the 1920s and 1930s with its swinging jazz style. The featured trumpet soloist is 14-year-old Joey Schneider from Novato. At thirteen, while still a seventh grader, Schneider won Downbeat Magazine's Student Music Award for best original song and released his first CD, which includes six of his original songs.
Ticket prices range from $7 to $52. Food, wine and picnic suppers will be available. Both lawn and reserved table seating are offered. For tickets and information, call (707) 546-8742 or visit the website at www.greenmusicfestival.org.
Other Green Music Festival outdoor concerts this summer are A Midsummer Night on the Green on August 3 featuring Festival Artistic Director Jeffrey Kahane conducting the Santa Rosa Symphony with guest soloist Jon Nakamatsu, gold medal winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and Cuban Jazz & Salsa on the Green on August 4 with GRAMMY-nominated Cuban composer-pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Cuban Son singer-songwriter Albita.
The Festival also features two chamber music concerts on July 20 and 21 with Jeffrey Kahane & Friends, Greenfarmfest, a youth festival weekend on July 27-28, and an eight-part Jack London Lecture Series from June 26 through August 14.
The Festival is also presenting the Ansel Adams Centennial Exhibition in the Sonoma State University Art Gallery from July 11 - August 18. Seventy original prints, with an emphasis on images of Northern California and Sonoma County, celebrate the great photographer's 2002 centennial birthday.
This year's events are expected to attract more than 30,000 people to the SSU campus in Rohnert Park, 40 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Festival will move to its permanent home, the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center at SSU, in a few years.
For more information:
http://www.greenmusicfestival.org.
