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THE DETROIT SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA OFFERS
A SPECTACULAR SEASON
OF LIGHT AND TRADMONAL
CLASSICAL MASTERWORKS
AND POPS FAVORITES
AT MEADOW BROOK
MUSIC FESTIVAL.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
T
he Detroit Symphony Orchestra has no
intention of putting away
Independence Day fireworks until next
year. They're packing them up and tak-
ing them to the Meadow Brook Music Festival,
where instrumentalists and guest artists also will fill
the air with crackling sounds from classical and
contemporary repertoires.
Starting with "American Fanfare," a program
featuring Aaron Copland's Rodeo and George
Gershwin's An American in Paris on July 13, and
concluding with a pops concert conducted by
composer/pianist Marvin Hamlisch on Aug. 12,
audiences are in for some new programs with
favorite celebrities and selections.
Hamlisch, a Jewish entertainer familiar to
Michigan audiences because of his frequent book-
ings with the symphony at both Orchestra Hall
and Meadow Brook, will be preceded by two
other Jewish artists making Meadow Brook debuts
— Broadway star Craig Schulman (July 15 and
29) and concert cellist Alisa Weilerstein (July 20).
Concerts have been assigned to a specific schedule of
15 evenings of programming according to the type of
music being played. Light classics for family entertain-
ment are planned for Fridays, while classical master-
works fill Saturdays. Pops performances are on Sundays.
Although all the concerts will not include colorful
fireworks to be seen in the air, they all are planned
with colorful entertainers to be seen and heard as
the day transforms to night in the outdoor setting.
Broadway Tenor
Craig Schulman has starred in the Broadway pro-
ductions of Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera
and Jekyll eT Hyde, but there are other musical the-
ater roles he'd like to have even if he doesn't quite
fit some casting director's vision.
To his credit, Schulman has found another way
to put himself and others into the spotlight and
present any great song from the American stage:
He produces his own concerts of theater music
and takes them to audiences around the country.
This summer, for the first time, he is teaming up
with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with two such
programs for the Meadow Brook Music Festival.
"An Evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein,"
also featuring Broadway performers Tamra
Hayden and Philip Hernandez, begins 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 15. "Broadway Under the Stars,"
with selections from recent shows and also featur-
ing Kim Crosby and Chris Groenendaal, will be
performed 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 29.
"The idea for the first program was that we
would have songs from older, established shows,"
says Schulman, a tenor. "Although it's essentially
Rodgers and Hammerstein, we'll have some other
great stuff as well. We'll have a little Bernstein
SUMMER SOUNDS on page 64