Palm Beach Gardens Community Band

Marching bands, dancing, an auction of old instruments into artwork — and oh yes, a performance with Music Director Gerard Schwarz at the podium and virtuoso pianist Hélène Grimaud — are planned for the Nov. 7 opening of the Palm Beach Symphony season at the Kravis Center.

"It's not going to be your average day at the symphony. We're going to rock the house," said John Rodriguez, who is scheduled to direct the Palm Beach Gardens High School Mighty Fighting Gator Marching Band outside the lobby at the 3 p.m. performance.

The symphony is dedicating the opening performance to late board president Dale Archer McNulty, who rarely missed a concert.

"From his installation as board president in 2008 until his passing earlier this year, Dale provided unparalleled leadership and guidance, which is best known to our loyal Symphony members, but thousands of patrons, students and members in our community will not forget his warm welcome and genuine hospitality as he greeted them at our events and performances," said Palm Beach Symphony CEO David H. McClymont.

Inside the Kravis, Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor is scheduled to be the main event at the 48th season opening.

"Hélène is one of the greatest pianists in the world today," Schwarz said of Grimaud, a French virtuoso. "We have performed the Schumann Piano Concerto together numerous times, and she has a special command over the piece. I've known her since she was in her early career, and I admire her passionate and expressive playing."

The concert will open with Umoja, a brief work by the American composer Valerie Coleman that extols the ideal of human freedom and togetherness (the Swahili word "umoja" means unity). It will conclude with the Fifth Symphony of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

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'Engage, educate and entertain'

The marching band and artwork auction are part of the community outreach goals, said McClymont. "Our three pillars are engage, educate and entertain. Innovation and community outreach is critical to our continued success," he said.

Members of the Palm Beach Symphony and the 61-member Gardens marching band have had a long relationship. Symphony musicians have donated their time to hold clinics for the high school musicians.

Many musicians have donated instruments, and symphony musicians have held virtual music lessons with students during the pandemic.

The symphony last year donated 65 instruments worth about $100,000 to musicians and musical organizations, McClymont said. "Palm Beach Symphony members have been a huge inspiration," said Rodriguez.

The symphony's collaboration with Zero Empty Spaces, a Fort Lauderdale-based business that creates affordable art studios in vacant spaces, is another way to boost public interaction, said McClymont.

The company plans to auction off donated instruments at the Kravis that have been refurbished into artwork. The money raised will support local artists. One preliminary bid for a violin is $4,000, said Evan Snow, co-founder and managing partner at the company.

About 38 damaged and donated instruments — mostly violins with a few flutes, clarinets and cellos — have been refurbished by artists donating their time. The instruments are for display only.

"One artist painted portraits of Tchaikovsky and Mozart on the face of the violin. There is sheet music of the musical scores in the background. It's very impressive," said Snow.

Despite the pandemic, membership at Palm Beach Symphony is the highest ever. The budget has increased from about $700,000 a decade ago to the current $3 million. Last year the symphony streamed concerts to 20 states and three countries.

Making Zero Empty Spaces and the Palm Beach Gardens marching band part of the show not only increases the fan base but encourages more participation in music, said McClymont.

Rodriguez agrees.

The Mighty Fighting Gator Marching Band — with trombones, snare drums, trumpets and saxophones and wearing their orange, blue and black uniforms — plans to serenade the symphony crowd as they arrive outside the lobby with a set list of pop, dance and music tunes — the same songs they play at football and hockey games.

"We're going to be marching, dancing and grooving. They band members are really excited," said Rodriguez, noting that the band is going to its first-ever statewide competition in Ocala two weeks after the Kravis Center performance.

On Friday, the symphony announced that it will hold a holiday-themed Sounds of the Season concert in December, which will be broadcast on WPEC-Channel 12 (CBS 12), and a concert on the Fourth of July.

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Source: https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/news/2021/10/21/palm-beach-symphony-kick-off-season-marching-band-art-auction/6116192001/

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