Latest news with #SymphonyatSunset
Canada News.Net
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Canada News.Net
CANADA-VANCOUVER-SYMPHONY AT SUNSET
(250706) -- VANCOUVER, July 6, 2025 (Xinhua) -- People watch a music performance by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra during the "Symphony at Sunset" concert at Sunset Beach Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 5, 2025. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)
Vancouver Sun
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Listen to classical music and opera outdoors (and for free!) this summer
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Where: Sunset Beach When: Saturday, July 5 at 8 p.m. Info: Where: Deer Lake Park, Burnaby When: Saturday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m. Info: Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Where: Deer Lake Park, Burnaby When: Sunday, July 13 at 7:30 p.m. Info: Summer is here and Vancouver's two classical home teams are offering you music — free and outdoors. You can think of this as an end-of-the-season dividend, if you like. Both the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Opera toil indoors from September to June. How wonderful it would be if Vancouver possessed an outdoor venue like Ravinia, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony, or like Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl. Wishing won't make it so, and the unpredictability of weather during our short summer renders such ideas mere pie in the sky. But we do get two mega concerts by the VSO and a sampler from VO during July, the best meteorological bet of summer months in the Pacific Northwest. The VSO kicks things off with Symphony at Sunset, which takes place at Sunset Beach, where sea, mountains and cityscape combine in a spectacular if ephemeral space for music. This year, the program is July 5 with VSO music director Otto Tausk conducting. Each summer, the orchestra tries to produce a something-for-everyone, no-intermission mix of this and that. 2025's version will start with William Rowson's arrangement of The Coast Salish Anthem. Rossini's Overture to the Barber of Seville is next up, followed by a snippet from Bizet, then an excerpt from Michael Conway Baker's music for Vancouver, Through the Lions Gate. Sibelius's Finlandia follows, and then comes a real treat, the first movement of Dvořák's cello concerto with the VSO's wonderful Henry Shapard as soloist. The evening ends with selections from the Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises by Hollywood legend John Williams, then the electrifying final moments of Stravinsky's Firebird — music the composer himself conducted here many, many decades ago. The orchestra will reappear on July 12 in Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, on the grand, gently sloping lawn in front of the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. Conductor Andrew Crust's program is similar but not identical to the Sunset Beach affair, starting once again with Rowson and Rossini. There's selections from Bizet's Carmen, then former Burnaby resident Jared Miller's Buzzer Beater. Miller's got a strong repertoire of more serious works, but his little orchestral sparkler has become that real rarity: a contemporary work everyone loves to hear. Selections from John Williams's, this time from Star Wars and Jurassic Park, end the first half of the program. The second half begins with more music from French opera, the (in)famous Bachanale from Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, then music by Joe Hisaishi and more John Williams. A day later at the same site, Vancouver Opera offers its fourth Opera in the Park extravaganza. Here, the practice is just a bit different: Where the VSO offers audiences samples of a whole range of music — soundtracks, pops numbers and, of course, standard classical rep — VO has opted for a sampler of its season to come. With three extraordinarily popular operas slated for production next season, Deer Lake 2025 is devoted to Verdi, Mozart and Puccini. Though the final playlist isn't set at the time of this writing, music director Jacques Lacombe, singers and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra plan to showcase music from Rigoletto, Così fan tutte, and La Bohème. There is, of course, no reserved seating at either outdoor venue, so come early with blankets and cushions and your own selection of food and drink. Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances.
