Free Community Concert scheduled for March 28
The Gulf Coast Symphony, Southwest Florida’s community orchestra, will present a free outdoor pops concert on Saturday, March 28. at 4:30 p.m. at Estero Community Park located at 9200 Corkscrew Palms Boulevard.
No tickets or advanced reservations are required. This concert features Sounds of the Big Band. Effervescent tunes by Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman are on the afternoon’s musical agenda.
This performance is part of Arts in Estero 2009, celebrating artistic diversity in the Estero community. Prior to the Gulf Coast Symphony’s performance, families are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy a full day of continuous entertainment beginning at 11 a.m. Art exhibits, food booths, information booths, art for sale and demonstrations are among the many activities planned for this event. No alcoholic beverages are permitted.
During the month of March, the Gulf Coast Symphony is participating in the Orchestras Feeding America National Food Drive sponsored by the League of American Orchestras. The Gulf Coast Symphony is collecting nonperishable food donations at all of their concerts, which will be donated to local food pantries. In addition to its participation in the American League of Orchestras Food Drive, the Gulf Coast Symphony performed for a sold out audience at the sixth annual Sam Galloway Soup Kitchen Benefit on March 3, an event that raised a half million dollars for the local soup kitchen.
The Gulf Coast Symphony is Southwest Florida’s premier community orchestra. It draws its membership from Naples to Port Charlotte and has performed to sold-out audiences. Its fourteenth season features its highly popular Symphonic Sensations Concert Series at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall (Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Richard Rodgers, April 5, three Magic Carpet Family Concert Series around the county, outdoor pops concerts at Estero Park and Cape Coral Cultural Park, and its ACCESS Classical Concerts at Bishop Verot’s Anderson Theater. The Gulf Coast Symphony sponsors a comprehensive arts education program, Musical Gateways, dedicated to providing ongoing educational opportunities for adult and youth alike, that includes in depth artist residencies for its partner schools and the entire community. The Gulf Coast Symphony rehearses weekly from October through May. For more information on orchestra membership call the Gulf Coast Symphony office at 277-1700 or email us at info@gulfcoastsymphony.org
The Gulf Coast Symphony’s music director and founder is Andrew Kurtz. Kurtz is also the General & Artistic Director of the Center City Opera Theater of Philadelphia and Music Director of the Florida Jewish Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the international tour conductor of CANTORS: A Faith In Song, featuring three of the world’s leading Cantors performing an evening of popular and religious Jewish songs. Kurtz’s 2008-09 season included concerts with the Gulf Coast Symphony, leading six operas, including the North American premiere of Edward Rushton’s comic opera The Shops with the Center City Opera Theater. He is the 2007 recipient of the Angel of the Arts Performing Artist of the Year. In 2001 Kurtz won First Prize in the Accademia Dell’Arte International Conducting Competition and made his European debut in Florence, Italy. Kurtz is also a respected and talented arts educator, and serves as a Resident Music Director and teacher at the Luzerne Music Festival. He received his Doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.
The Gulf Coast Symphony’s 2008-2009 sponsors include the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, Lee Memorial Hospitals, the Bireley Foundation, the City of Ft Myers, Advanced Pain Management and Spine Specialists, Arts Estero 2009, Terrasi Media, Southwest Florida Business Alliance, Estero Medical Center & Urgent Care Centers, 21st Century Oncology, FineMark Bank, Ameriprise Financial, Target Stores, Florida Shores Bank, and Symphonia Medicus: “Doctors Dedicated to Classical Healing”.
Source: Gulf Coast Symphony