Garden Spot Village Announces Philadelphia Orchestra Mini-Series

Retirement community to host six simulcast concerts for 2010-2011

Maestro Charles Dutoit conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra. Subscription tickets are now available for the Philadelphia Orchestra Concert Mini-Series 2010/2011 at Garden Spot Village.
Photo: Chris Lee/The Philadelphia Orchestra Association

NEW HOLLAND, Pa. — July 7, 2010 — Following a well-received simulcast performance last month, Garden Spot Village has announced that it will host a Philadelphia Orchestra Concert Mini-Series, with six shows at the retirement community from October 2010 through May 2011.

“We previewed the simulcast system to residents in May, and our first public event in June was a great success,” said Colleen Musselman, director of life enrichment at Garden Spot Village. “The simulcast technology makes the orchestra experience affordable and easily accessible to those who don’t want to worry about city traffic or parking.”

In many ways, the simulcast technology has benefits that in-person attendance can’t offer. The broadcasts feature personal interviews with the musicians and close-ups of their faces as they perform.

The six-concert series kicks off on Sun., Oct. 31, at 8 p.m., with a live simulcast of Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performances of Haydn’s Military Symphony and Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The program is a live broadcast of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance at Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

“The audience enjoys the excitement and energy of a live performance without ever leaving the comfort of Lancaster County,” Musselman said.

Subsequent concerts in the series are encore performances, airing within 48 hours of the live performance. Each begins at 6:30 p.m. on a Sunday. On Nov. 21, the simulcast teams conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos with violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos for a program that includes a Tchaikovsky concerto and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. For the Dec. 12 concert, Robert Spano conducts music by Silbelius, including his Fifth Symphony. In 2011, the Feb. 27 simulcast features Maestro Charles Dutoit conducting the premier of James MacMillan’s Violin Concerto, along with the Overture to Berlioz’s opera based on Much Ado About Nothing and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. Russia is the theme of the Mar. 20 concert, which features Tchaikovsy’s Second Piano Concerto and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. The 2010/2011 mini-series concludes with a performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms along with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

The Philadelphia Orchestra simulcasts are captured live with a sophisticated camera system that virtually places the audience amidst the orchestra members, so viewers can see the musician’s expressions as they perform. Broadcasts often include exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews.

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