Symphony returns for free outdoor concerts

Thu., Sept. 1, 2005

Travis Rivers Correspondent

The Spokane Symphony continues its 19-year tradition of free summer parks concerts with a Saturday performance at Liberty Lake’s Pavillion Park and Monday’s Labor Day Concert at Comstock Park in Spokane.

Eckart Preu, the orchestra’s music director, and Morihiko Nakahara, the associate conductor, will share conducting duties at both performances.

The program includes instrumental excerpts from Bizet’s opera “Carmen” and symphonic works by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, along with lighter fare from the movie scores of “Titanic” and “The Wizard of Oz” and some Dixieland.

“These are concerts that have something for every listener, and we invite everybody to bring their picnic baskets and their blankets and lawn chairs to the parks just to see and hear the diversity of what our orchestra does,” says Annie Matlow, the symphony’s marketing director.

Food also will be for sale by vendors at both locations.

In addition to the musical program at Comstock Park, the Spokane Folklore Society is sponsoring a Fall Arts Preview beginning at 4 p.m. More than 30 of Spokane’s music, theater, arts and crafts organizations will have booths with information about their season’s offerings.

- Travis Rivers

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