LPO’s free outdoor concert in City Park features music on the Great Lawn

Music under the stars with a symphonic syncopation: That’s the plan for Swing In the Oaks, the free Wednesday, April 24, concert at 7 p.m. in City Park.

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra rolls up its shirtsleeves for an al fresco evening as maestro Matthew Kraemer takes the baton in a performance that also includes a 6 p.m. special by the LPO Academy students. 

With musicians on the Peristyle, the crowd is encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs to take advantage of the Great Lawn’s green space and enjoy music that runs from patriotic to science fiction and a multicultural smorgasbord of works.

From “The Star-Spangled Banner” to “Stars and Stripes Forever,” LPO’s pop-style performance will also include popular works from several films and plays, including Bernstein’s “Overture to Candide,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and Williams’ “Suite from Star Wars.”

The works of Oscar and Grammy winner responsible for “The Pink Panther” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” will also be included in Custer’s “A Tribute to Henry Mancini.”

New Orleans music gets the symphonic sound with Spencer Williams and Jeff Tyzik’s “New Orleans Medley” and the Rebirth Brass Band and John Reeks’ “Do Watcha Wanna.” Also included will be the finale from “Birth of a Culture” by Dr. Maxim Samarov of Tulane University. Samarov’s arrangement of Big Chief Juan Pardo’s “Up and Down” will part of the musical celebration.

International sounds will abound in works by Berlioz “Le Carnaval Romain,” Rafael Hernandez and Albert Gonzales’ “El Cumbanchero” and Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dances, Opus 46, No. 1.” 

During the concert, members of the LPO Volunteers will be passing the hat and the bucket for donations. The group, which conducts several events during the year to bolster the symphony including the massive book sale in late May, is seeking a new warehouse location.