PEACH WEEKENDER | MUSIC

Outdoor concert series blooms at TBG

7/24/2014
BY SALLY VALLONGO
SPECIAL TO THE BLADE
  • SOC-knorr23p-1

    The Real Cool Jazz series will feature vocalist Kelly Broadway on Aug. 14.

    THE BLADE
    Buy This Image

  • Clifford Murphy will perform next week at Toledo Botanical Garden.
    Clifford Murphy will perform next week at Toledo Botanical Garden.

    The Real Cool Jazz series will feature vocalist Kelly Broadway on Aug. 14.
    The Real Cool Jazz series will feature vocalist Kelly Broadway on Aug. 14.

    Toledo Botanical Garden presents Real Cool Jazz, an outdoor concert series each Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the city’s art park, 5403 Elmer Dr. Music flows from the bandstand near the Village, where guests gather on their own chairs and/​or blankets.

    Tonight’s band will be the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band, one of the area’s most venerable and accomplished traditional Dixieland groups.

    Next week, Clifford Murphy and Friends will hold sway. The August lineup starts with the Swingmania Allstars, Aug. 7, and continues with vocalist Kelly Broadway on Aug. 14. The group 6th Edition will play on Aug. 21 and Quartet Bernadette performs on Aug. 28.

    September concerts will present the Gene Parker Quintet on Sept. 4 and singer Morgan Stiegler on Sept. 11.

    Admission is $6 for members, $7-$8 for nonmembers, students, and seniors; and free for children 12 and under. Season passes are available at a substantial discount.

    Parking, except for cars with handicap signs, is at the Bancroft Street entrance, with a free trolley available to convey guests to the music.

    Guests may bring in food, beer, and wine; vendors will sell barbecue and bakery goods.

    The H-Factor Jazz Show and its host, Hugh Ross, are taking programming outside and live for the next four weekends in a series of free jazz concerts in the Ottawa Park Amphitheater. Starting Friday, music will begin at 5 and run to 8 p.m.

    Opening the series will be The Estar Cohen Project. Cohen, a popular local singer, is a student at the University of Toledo, which airs the H-Factor.

    On Aug. 1, singer Theresa Harris & Friends will perform, followed Aug. 8 by Ross Thompson & the Jazz Mix. Thompson is a student at Toledo School for the Arts; his band attends UT. Veteran jazzman Bob Rex and his trio are up for Aug. 15, the final concert. Rex is a regular at the Village Idiot in Maumee.

    Family-friendly music is on tap each night. Attendees should bring chairs, blankets, and any desired refreshments. The H-Factor airs from 2-6 p.m. Saturday and 4-8 p.m. Sundays on WXUT 88.3FM.

    OnStage Studio, a Maumee dance center, will present its Summer Showcase, “Steppin’ Out,” at 7:30 p.m. on July 31. The “stage” will be the field outside the company studio, 725 Ford St. just off the Anthony Wayne Trail.

    Featuring the advanced dancers and faculty and under the direction of Ashley Nowak, the Showcase Company prides itself on the concert experience with a touch of the avant-garde, according to a recent press release. Co-directors are Darrah Nowak and Hilary Lindsay.

    Tickets are $10 at the door. An open house for the studio is planned for July 30. For more information, call 419-897-0296.

    The Toledo Symphony Concert Band will perform at Sunday’s Music Under the Stars, the free concerts in the Toledo Zoo Amphitheater. Music starts at 7:30 p.m. Conductor Bruce Moss will lead a program titled “Be Happy.”

    Highlights of the program will include Percy Grainger’s Children’s March, symphonic highlights from the score to the film Frozen; Happy by Pharrell Williams, Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Tumblers, and music from cartoons.

    Special guest performers from the Toledo Ballet will dance to Cole Porter’s Blow, Gabriel Blow, with choreography by Steven Brown. Ballerina Katie Bostleman will take a solo turn performing to The Swan from Saint-Saen’s classic Pictures at an Exhibition.

    TARTA’s Star Shuttle buses will leave for the zoo at 6:30 p.m. from Miracle Mile, Waterville Kroger, Centennial Terrace in Sylvania, Franklin Park Mall near Kohl’s, and St. Luke’s Hospital, Maumee. Rides are $1 per person each way.

    For hundreds of area residents as well as musicians and music lovers from the entire Midwest and beyond, late July means one thing: the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra.

    On Wednesday the summer orchestra will launch its month-long series of eight concerts in Hoover Auditorium with a gala performance at 8:15 p.m. A reception will follow the performance.

    This year marks the the symphony’s 51st season, plus it’s the 44th anniversary of music director/​conductor Robert Cronquist’s tenure with the group.

    The concert schedule will continue as follows: Aug. 2 the orchestra will perform with special guests, Cleveland's Pointe of Departure ballet company. On Aug. 4 the orchestra will present its Showcase, followed by a performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, plus other family favorites on Aug. 6.

    Music of Judy Garland will highlight the Aug. 9 program, with vocalist Joan Ellison in the spotlight.

    Gavin George, an 11-year-old piano prodigy from the Columbus area, will be guest soloist with the symphony in a concert Aug. 12. Violinist Jinjoo Cho and cellist Regina Mushabac will perform with the orchestra at the Aug. 15 concert.

    And the Closing Night concert on Aug. 22 will present pianists Emanuela Friscioni and Antonio Pompa Baldi.

    All concerts begin at 8:15 p.m. They are free with a Lakeside day pass. Passes are available at the gated entrance; prices are $19.75 per adult and $13.75 per youth 12-18 years old. Passes are good for the entire day of purchase, until 7 a.m. the next morning, according to Alex Stelver of the Lakeside marketing office.

    Lakeside is a private Ottawa County community run by the United Methodist Church on the Lake Erie shore. Its summer activities are planned around the Four Pillars of Chautauqua: religion, education, arts and entertainment, and recreation.

    For more information contact Lakeside at 419-798-4461 or visit www.lakesideohio.com.

    A choral reading workshop led by Stephen Hodge, director of choral music at the University of Toledo, will be presented from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 9 at the UT Center for Performing Arts.

    Designed for middle and high school vocal music instructors and college music majors, it will cover more than 60 pieces of music. The cost is $50 and participants will be able to keep all music they study. An accompanist will be provided along with refreshments.

    For more information go to www.tinyurl.com/​UTChoralReadingWorkshop2014 or call 419-530-2448.

    Send News of Music items to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks in advance.