In Monday’s (7/6) Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Dobrin writes that for fifteen years the Philadelphia Orchestra’s “wonderful free neighborhood concert series has brought it to North Philadelphia, the Navy Yard, Drexel Hill, and elsewhere…. Thursday night at Penn’s Landing was remarkable in several ways. Despite a misty rain, the audience was huge (officials estimate between 5,000 and 7,500), overwhelmingly under the age of 40, and thoroughly diverse. They roared with enthusiasm.… The orchestra performed patriotic tunes and light classics, and the audience held conversations with one another, called friends, sent texts, walked around, and ate. The social protocols so firmly established in the 20th-century concert hall did not apply…. The cellphones came out, too, at the Philly Pops’ annual appearance Friday night in front of Independence Hall, and social media were cluttered with shots from the concert even before it started…. The program was a mix of Broadway, movie melodies … and patriotic tunes.”
Posted July 7, 2015
