Suburban Sophistication Achieved!
May 10, 2010
Here’s a depressing game: go to Google and type in a city name, followed by “symphony.” You may be alarmed at the number of hits you get that also include the phrases, “financial difficulties” or “budget crunch.” Sadly, in Charleston’s case, you will also find the words “will have to cancel the rest of their schedule for the first time in 74 years.”
These days, you take your symphony where you can get it. And if you aren’t insistent that the quality be New York Philharmonic-level, you are reasonably sure to have a good time, and possibly get some culture stuck to your shoes.
This was the case on Saturday May 8, when the oft-delayed Symphony Under the Stars finally took place at the Goose Creek Municipal Center. After an opening set by the Stratford High Wind Ensemble, the Summerville Community Orchestra under Conductor
Alexander Agrest took the stage. The program included classical, um, classics by the likes of Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Glier, followed by the old time rag of Scott Joplin. Then, the orchestra presented a medley of James Bond movie themes, and selections from the Sound of Music score.
The evening ended with the international-standard fireworks score: The 1812 Overture. Even Bubba Camo-Hat sitting next to me recognized it! The orchestra pounded out Tchaikovsky’s classic while the fireworks spectacularly did not happen. Not to worry. The pyro dude eventually returned from the porta-john. Then, with a bemused shrug, the conductor fired up the encore and 1812’d the hell out of it!
So, is there a starlight concert in your future? I know one way to find out. You know that little suburban weekly paper you get? The one that goes from the end of your driveway and into the recycle bin, usually bypassing that intermediate “reading” step? Well, crack it open sometime – you never know what suburban sophistication awaits!
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