“Performing free concerts, outdoors, in one of Boston’s famous public spaces. Creating a chorus of singers from each and every city neighborhood. Collaborating with multiple arts organizations—theater companies, opera companies, charter schools, museums, Boys & Girls Clubs. That’s how you build a community orchestra,” writes Keith Powers in the Artery section of Boston radio station WBUR’s website on Tuesday (7/14). “ ‘It’s a strategy of participation,’ says Christopher Wilkins, music director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. ‘We want to be a gathering point for the whole city.’ The whole city might not fit there, but on a beautiful Wednesday evening at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, up to 5,000 people have gathered for some of Landmarks Orchestra’s free concerts. The series, which opens this Wednesday and continues through Aug. 26, was first created by the orchestra’s founder Charles Ansbacher in 2001. ‘Charles had this wonderful and noble idea that music can serve as public art, the same way that sculpture does,’ Wilkins says. ‘That’s why being at the Hatch Shell is important—the synergy of sight and sound.’ ” The article quotes Executive Director Jo Frances, who discusses what it takes to run a professional orchestra that gives free concerts.
Posted July 15, 2015
Pictured: The Boston Landmarks Orchestra performs during a summer concert at the Hatch Shell. Photo by Michael Dwyer
