Long Overdue Post
As promised, here is the post I was going to make a couple weeks ago about the LI Philharmonic Concert at Heckscher State Park on July 17th. Yes, this means I actually have the program in my possession :-D
The decision to go to see the free concert was made pretty much on last minute. Our Saturday had opened up because of cancelled plans and we jumped on the chance to go see LI Phil. Last summer, NY Phil (who used to do this concert yearly) had to cancel due to financial reasons and the LI Phil was to play in their place, but that got squashed too, so we needed to jump on the Concert in the Park bandwagon just in case financial reasons keep them from holding the concert again.
I drove us there, but before we could go, we needed to pick up alorarose, chairs from my folks, dinner from Subway, and Nolan. It couldn't have gone any smoother than it did. :-D I really am getting the hang of this driving thing.
We got there with plenty of time to spare, donated $20 ($10 was the suggestion), and parked. We found a good spot on the lawn and settled in. vampedvixen joined us soon after. As the sun was going down, All the important people who made this concert possible were talking on the stage and then the concert started.
The first half was filled with greatness.
Smith/arr. Wiley - Star Spangled Banner. This is your standard run-of-the-mill arrangement. Well played :)
Cohan - Star-Spangled Spectacular
Hanson - "Finale" from Symphony No. 2 (Romantic) I really liked this piece a lot.
Billy Joel - Elegy: The Great Peconic Billy Joel does NOT dissappoint! This piece was actually premiered in London and then he worked closely with the LI Phil conductor on some changes to the piece and it was AWESOME!
Sousa - The New York Hippodrome Usually Sousa marches bore me because they're overplayed, but I must say this one is definitely worth a listen.
Arr. Ricketts - Satchmo: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong AMAZING! To introduce the piece and have commentary after the piece, the conductor spoke in a Loius Armstrong voice. It was cool.
Local living composer Burns - Flying Wow wow wow wow wow! The composer of this piece is from Islip. And boy can he compose!
Arr. Brubaker - What's Up Symphony? COOLEST.MEDLEY.EVER! It was a medley of Looney Tunes music. OMFG Awesome!! When it got to "What's Opera Doc?", the conductor put on a viking helmet. ROFL.
John FUCKING Williams - "Raiders March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark It's John FUCKING Williams. 'Nuff said.
Then it was intermission. Awesomeness abounded. Much texting occurred to people who could not be with us that evening. ::Cough kradical Cough:: And then they made the anouncement that the Concert was about to continue.
Willson - "76 Trombones" from The Music Man So full of awesome! Loved every moment of it...except for the fact that the people behind us were talking.
Bernstein/arr. Mason - Selections from West Side Story AMAZING! Danielle and I were singing along. Big F-U to the people behind us.
Gould - An American Salute: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Lulz...We sang "The ants go marching..." Dammit people behind us STFU!
Berlin/arr. Ades - Irving Berlin: A Symphonic Portrait Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Ok that's it people behind us, we're about to get really loud.
Rodgers/arr. Bennett - Medley from The Sound of Music Danielle and I sung at the top of our lungs! :-D Or at least loud enough to drown out the RUDE PEOPLE SITTING BEHIND US!
Rodgers/arr. Bennett - Victory at Sea This was a really neat piece. Oh Good..the people behind us finally got the hint.
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture Awesome! While this was playing, Grucci started setting off the FIREWORKS!! Oooooooohhhh Aaaaaaaaaaaaah Speeeeeeeciaaaaaal!! :-D
Bonus piece: Stars and Stripes Forever Grucci continued on with Fireworks and so LI Phil broke into Stars and Stripes. The Fireworks were really spectacular. The piece ended and the fireworks were still going. SO AWESOME!
All in all a great concert and a great night!! Couldn't ask for better weather either. Brian decided to drive home. Nolan went with Janet because she was low on gas. We took Danielle home. Only took about 30 mins to get out of Heckscher State Park, which was impressive considering the last time (in 2008) it took us nearly an HOUR.
~*::Meow::*~
The decision to go to see the free concert was made pretty much on last minute. Our Saturday had opened up because of cancelled plans and we jumped on the chance to go see LI Phil. Last summer, NY Phil (who used to do this concert yearly) had to cancel due to financial reasons and the LI Phil was to play in their place, but that got squashed too, so we needed to jump on the Concert in the Park bandwagon just in case financial reasons keep them from holding the concert again.
I drove us there, but before we could go, we needed to pick up alorarose, chairs from my folks, dinner from Subway, and Nolan. It couldn't have gone any smoother than it did. :-D I really am getting the hang of this driving thing.
We got there with plenty of time to spare, donated $20 ($10 was the suggestion), and parked. We found a good spot on the lawn and settled in. vampedvixen joined us soon after. As the sun was going down, All the important people who made this concert possible were talking on the stage and then the concert started.
The first half was filled with greatness.
Smith/arr. Wiley - Star Spangled Banner. This is your standard run-of-the-mill arrangement. Well played :)
Cohan - Star-Spangled Spectacular
Hanson - "Finale" from Symphony No. 2 (Romantic) I really liked this piece a lot.
Billy Joel - Elegy: The Great Peconic Billy Joel does NOT dissappoint! This piece was actually premiered in London and then he worked closely with the LI Phil conductor on some changes to the piece and it was AWESOME!
Sousa - The New York Hippodrome Usually Sousa marches bore me because they're overplayed, but I must say this one is definitely worth a listen.
Arr. Ricketts - Satchmo: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong AMAZING! To introduce the piece and have commentary after the piece, the conductor spoke in a Loius Armstrong voice. It was cool.
Local living composer Burns - Flying Wow wow wow wow wow! The composer of this piece is from Islip. And boy can he compose!
Arr. Brubaker - What's Up Symphony? COOLEST.MEDLEY.EVER! It was a medley of Looney Tunes music. OMFG Awesome!! When it got to "What's Opera Doc?", the conductor put on a viking helmet. ROFL.
John FUCKING Williams - "Raiders March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark It's John FUCKING Williams. 'Nuff said.
Then it was intermission. Awesomeness abounded. Much texting occurred to people who could not be with us that evening. ::Cough kradical Cough:: And then they made the anouncement that the Concert was about to continue.
Willson - "76 Trombones" from The Music Man So full of awesome! Loved every moment of it...except for the fact that the people behind us were talking.
Bernstein/arr. Mason - Selections from West Side Story AMAZING! Danielle and I were singing along. Big F-U to the people behind us.
Gould - An American Salute: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Lulz...We sang "The ants go marching..." Dammit people behind us STFU!
Berlin/arr. Ades - Irving Berlin: A Symphonic Portrait Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Ok that's it people behind us, we're about to get really loud.
Rodgers/arr. Bennett - Medley from The Sound of Music Danielle and I sung at the top of our lungs! :-D Or at least loud enough to drown out the RUDE PEOPLE SITTING BEHIND US!
Rodgers/arr. Bennett - Victory at Sea This was a really neat piece. Oh Good..the people behind us finally got the hint.
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture Awesome! While this was playing, Grucci started setting off the FIREWORKS!! Oooooooohhhh Aaaaaaaaaaaaah Speeeeeeeciaaaaaal!! :-D
Bonus piece: Stars and Stripes Forever Grucci continued on with Fireworks and so LI Phil broke into Stars and Stripes. The Fireworks were really spectacular. The piece ended and the fireworks were still going. SO AWESOME!
All in all a great concert and a great night!! Couldn't ask for better weather either. Brian decided to drive home. Nolan went with Janet because she was low on gas. We took Danielle home. Only took about 30 mins to get out of Heckscher State Park, which was impressive considering the last time (in 2008) it took us nearly an HOUR.
~*::Meow::*~