The annual Philharmonic Fling! is set for July 7 at Ed Macgregor Park in Sooke. (Sooke News Mirror)

The annual Philharmonic Fling! is set for July 7 at Ed Macgregor Park in Sooke. (Sooke News Mirror)

Sooke Philharmonic returning to Ed Macgregor Park for free summer concert

The perennially popular Philharmonic Fling! set for July 7

The Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra is returning to Ed Macgregor Park this summer for its popular free outdoor concert.

The 17th annual edition of Philharmonic Fling! is on Sunday, July 7.

“Most paid professional orchestras stage summer outdoor shows,” said conductor Michael Klazek.

“The Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra is rare, if not unique, in being a volunteer community orchestra with a volunteer board that annually stages a free public concert outdoors. And for a town of our size to manage a presentation of this type is very special indeed.”

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Klazek has chosen a program of lively music. Woven into the program are several solo features including Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous and popular Double Violin Concerto, showcasing the musical skills of violin soloists Rebecca-Reader Lee and Boris Li.

Next is a short work originally scored for violin and piano, Tambourin Chinois. Composed in 1910 by Fritz Kreisler, one of the greatest violists of his time, the composition evokes music in the Chinese manner, with its use of pentatonic scale. Soloist Emma Reader-Lee, now a music student at McGill University, is Rebecca’s sister.

The Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra’s triple trumpet section will entertain with the flashy Bugler’s Holiday, composed by Leroy Anderson.

It’s not often that the tuba takes the concert spotlight but Fling! audiences will be entertained by not one but four. Tuba 4, a unique quartet of local musicians, will entertain playing the lower brass instruments.

The Fling! is a way for the Sooke Philharmonic Society to say thank you to area residents for their support since the orchestra’s inception 22 years ago.

Everyone is invited to turn out with blankets – and picnic dinner – to take in the concert. Refreshments will be on sale at intermission.

Park gates open at 1 p.m., with the concert at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

In the event of rain, the concert will be moved to the Sooke Community Center.

Check out www.sookephil.ca for the details.


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Sooke News Mirror