I just arrived in Lancaster, and I am honored to embark upon my first season at the Lancaster Festival alongside you, our community, our fantastic staff and board, and the incredible musicians and artists that will be presented this year. Before we begin our time together, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your warm welcome to me and my wife Camille, and your steadfast support ofthe festival. It is a privilege to join you, and I am truly excited about the weeks ahead.
The first week will feature two performances with the Lancaster Festival Orchestra that I cannot wait to share with you. We’ll begin on July 24 at St. Mary’s Church with Story, Songs and Symphony, an opening-night program that includes Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, gorgeous arias and songs performed by tenor Ben Gulley, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. Then on July 26, we bring the orchestra to the Wendel Concert Stage for a premiere collaboration with Gary LeVox, performing hits from Rascal Flatts in an electrifying outdoor concert.I’m so thankful to my friend and collaborator Alex Berko, who composed all of the charts for the orchestra this year, allowing us to collaborate with our headliners. You’ll love the way he has featured the Lancaster Festival Orchestra.
On July 29 we will welcome Broadway Love Stories on the Wendel Concert Stage, with selections from “Wicked,” “Oklahoma,” “West Side Story,” and manymore favorites. The concert will feature two of Broadway’s brightest stars in Morgan James and Michael Maliakel singing alongside the Lancaster Festival Orchestra. If I could make one request of you this month, please spread the word far and wide, and join us for this particular show. This is a new offering for thefestival, and we want as many folks to experience this Broadway magic as possible, as we add new, family-oriented programming.
Finally, on Aug. 2, our festival concludes with Colbie Caillat and Dawes with the Orchestra, bringing together two major headliners in a festive closing night full of music and fireworks.
I hope you’ll join us at any of our outdoor orchestral events. Pleaseconsider this your personal invitation to attend and celebrate with us.
I hope this summer is an exciting and memorable one for you. I look forward to sharing it together.
John Devlin is the music director of the Lancaster Festival Orchestra.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Letter to the Editor: Lancaster Festival Orchestra music director is excited about shows
Reporting by Lancaster Eagle-Gazette / Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
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