On September 4, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra will perform a free outdoor concert on the New Haven Green to launch New Haven’s two-day International Festival of Arts and Ideas. Vocalists Brian Stokes Mitchell—who early in the pandemic championed frontline workers, performing from his Manhattan apartment window—and Harolyn Blackwell will perform in the NHSO’s first concert with full orchestra since March 2020. The program will include “The Impossible Dream,” “Feelin’ Good,” “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” “Somewhere” from West Side Story, “Wheels of a Dream” from Ragtime, “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from Porgy and Bess, and excerpts from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and Coleman’s Fanfare for Uncommon Times. The concert will end with “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” featuring the entire audience as well as guest vocal ensembles and soloists. NHSO Music Director Alasdair Neale said the concert “provides an example of what to expect from us in the future: more voices on stage, a broader spectrum of music.” The International Festival of Arts and Ideas is a year-round organization that includes an annual summer celebration of performing arts, lectures, and conversations in New Haven.
Change font size
