Waterfront Park is the place to be on Thursday, starting at 2:30 p.m., when a series of concerts begins and culminates in a spectacular Oregon Symphony rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, complete with cannon fire and fireworks.
This event is absolutely FREE and features performances by no less than eight local arts organizations, including mariachis and taiko drums, as well as the 234th Army Band of the Oregon National Guard!
Bring low-back chairs or blankets and a picnic to the bowl just south of the Hawthorne Bridge.
Here is the day’s schedule and the program of the Oregon Symphony:
2:30 PM 234th Army Band of the Oregon National Guard
3:30 PM Metropolitan Youth Symphony
4:00 PM HillsboroSD Mariachi Una Voz with Edna Vazquez
4:30 PM BRAVO Youth Orchestra
5:15 PM Portland Youth Philharmonic
6:00 PM Portland Taiko
7:00 PM Oregon Symphony (with performances by Portland Opera & Oregon Ballet Theatre )
Nightfall Fireworks
The Star Spangled Banner by John Stafford Smith (Arr. N. Leyden)
Overture to The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner
Danse by Claude Debussy (Arr. M. Ravel)
Symphony No. 5 in C minor Allegro con Brio by Ludwig Van Beethoven
Toreador’s Song from Carmen by Georges Bizet, performed by Alexander Elliott, baritone of Portland Opera
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World,” Allegro con fuoco by Antonin Dvorak, with members of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony
Intermission
Stars and Stripes Forever by John Phillip Sousa & McAlister
Cuban Overture, “Rhumba,” by George Gershwin
Nutcracker: Pas de Deux by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, performed by Haiyan Wu & Chauncey Parsons of Oregon Ballet Theatre
“Corral Nocturne” from Rodeo by Aaron Copland
1812 Overture by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with members of the Portland Youth Philharmonic
Military cannons courtesy of the Oregon Army National Guard 218th Field Artillery
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