A Salute to American Classics

Verizon Amphitheatre

The Atlanta Symphony fought off the rain and the cool-down in the weather and went ahead with a grand outdoor summer finale at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Sunday night. While the Pops is usually under the baton of Michael Krajewski, this evening Maestro Robert Spano was conducting, and the crowd went wild.

They opened with Bernstein’s wonderful Overture to Candide and then followed up with the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. The first set ended with Morton Gould’s American Salute. Clarinetist Laura Ardan was the featured soloist for Aaron Copeland’s Concerto for Clarinet which also features harp and piano. And, no such concert would have been just right without Gershwin’s An American in Paris, which everybody loved.

It was impressive when Robert Spano in his opening remarks told the audience about one of the reasons that the ASO has been involved with the amphitheatre. It seats at least twice as many people as at Symphony Hall; and last evening they must have had several thousand happy fans. Even more so when the encore was John Williams’ Main Theme from Star Wars.

Coming up as the next Pops Concert is A Classical Mystery Tour, a Tribute to the Beatles, which will be performed October 16 and 17 at Symphony Hall. For tickets and more info visit them at ASO.org