"We are cautiously optimistic that we will have it all up and ready for Saturday's tree lighting, with the Conway Village Fire Department setting up the lights at 10 a.m. Thursday. That's our plan," said Conway town manager Earl Sires late Wednesday afternoon, after town crews worked to check the old lights that have been used for years to light the conifer at the Conway Village Information Booth.
The annual Conway Christmas parade is definitely not going to happen — but the tree lighting, caroling, and the serving of hot chocolate and other refreshments will take place as originally scheduled.
Still to be worked out is whether a screening of a children's film will take place at the Majestic Hometown Theatre.
Sires, saying he felt a bit like Clark Griswold in "Christmas Vacation" when crews checked out the old bulbs from the tree Wednesday, said "a few popped," but others were found to be in working order.
"We had 16 sets of lights resuscitated," said Sires.
Other businesses have come to the aid of the effort. PainCare donated additional lights, and The Conway Daily Sun offered to donate $500 toward the purchase of energy efficient LED lights, whether for this or next year.
Other local businesses also stepped up with donations of lights and refreshments.
Sires worked Wednesday to get the lighting ceremony back on for Saturday at 5 p.m., collaborating with Janice Crawford, executive director of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Melody Nester of the chamber and the MWV Skating Club.
Also involved were chief Steve Solomon of the Conway Village Fire Department and Conway Village Water Precinct commissioner Joe Quirk, operator of the Majestic Hometown Theater and a past Conway Village Chamber president.
The efforts took place after a story ran in Wednesday's Conway Daily Sun and on the paper's Facebook page, saying that the annual Conway Village holiday parade and tree lighting were not going to happen this year due to a combination of factors — most notably, that since the Conway Village Chamber dissolved in May, no one had taken the lead to organize the events.
The MWV Chamber took over the running of the Conway chamber's information booth after that vote, but not the Conway chamber's events, Crawford underscored this week.
The MWV Skating Club had offered to lead the tree-lighting efforts in recent weeks, but the club's Nester had run out of time during the Thanksgiving holiday week when she sought to buy new LED lights as she was leaving the area due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Melody wanted to buy LED lights. We were not looking for cheap lights as we wanted to make sure they would last and the money would not be wasted," said Crawford.
At Conway selectmen's weekly board meeting Tuesday, selectman Larry Martin — who is employed by the N.H. Electric Cooperative — threw his support for giving some of his own money to the effort, as well as pledging his help to obtaining LED lights, using his electric co-op expertise. "He said that would not happen until Dec. 17, however," said Crawford Wednesday.
Showing posts with label festive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festive. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
Review: Boston Pops, UK Symphony give rousing concert to celebrate Keeneland
Two full orchestras and several choirs joined forces Saturday night in Rupp Arena to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Keeneland Race Course in suitably grandiose manner. First, John Nardolillo and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra; then, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra; and then, both maestros and orchestras together entertained a receptive audience with a diverse program combining light classics, folk songs and popular music from stage and screen.
With the arena's main floor reserved for VIP dinner patrons around tables and the rest of the audience in the stands, the basketball palace seemed transformed into a gigantic old-time nightclub, which enhanced the loose, festive atmosphere of the event.
Both orchestras played very well, although in freestyle concerts like this, occasional mistakes are to be expected. For example, Copland's famous "Hoedown" from Rodeo suffered from spots of rhythmic imprecision, and the combined forces almost fell apart at one point in Bernstein's Overture to Candide, but these quibbles did not really mar the overall musical excellence of the evening.
Each orchestra was at its best in the multimedia segments highlighting their sets. The UKSO played Carmen Dragon's evocative arrangement of Beautiful Dreamer to a short film about Keeneland, narrated live by the racetrack's former president Ted Bassett, with a beautiful violin solo by Jessica Miskelly. Later, the Boston Pops played a soundtrack to The Horse, another short film narrated live by legendary sportscaster and Lexington native Tom Hammond, with a stirring trumpet solo by Bruce Hall. The Boston Pops also shone in its swinging rendition of 42nd Street and its exciting Theme from The Magnificent Seven.
Perhaps the most delicious morsel of the evening was served in Dragon's lush arrangement of De Camptown Races. On the other hand, a choral/orchestral setting of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody did not work, coming across as uncomfortably square until finally the rock instruments kicked in toward the end of the arrangement.
Another fun feature of the concert had the conductors trade orchestras for one number in each other's sets. Nardolillo, in white tie and tails and working with a baton, made a lively Boston Pops debut with von Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture. Lockhart, in red bow tie and cummerbund and conducting with his hands, led the UKSO in an elegant reading of Rodgers' Carousel Waltz, inspiring particularly fine legato playing from the strings.
The most thrilling part of the evening came when both orchestras joined forces for an unprecedented "side-by-side," in which the UK students shared music stands with the professional Boston Pops players. The huge chorus, composed of the combined UK Choirs, the Lexington Singers and the Lexington Singers Children's Choir, under the direction of Jefferson Johnson and Lori Hetzel, also participated more prominently in this portion of the concert, which began with the rousing sounds of John Williams' Call of the Champions.
Metropolitan Opera soprano Cynthia Lawrence, who also occupies an endowed chair in voice at UK, joined the massed forces for a moving rendition of America the Beautiful, her voice soaring gloriously above the choruses and orchestras. The program ended climactically with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, complete with simulated cannon fire to take the excitement over the top.
With the arena's main floor reserved for VIP dinner patrons around tables and the rest of the audience in the stands, the basketball palace seemed transformed into a gigantic old-time nightclub, which enhanced the loose, festive atmosphere of the event.
Both orchestras played very well, although in freestyle concerts like this, occasional mistakes are to be expected. For example, Copland's famous "Hoedown" from Rodeo suffered from spots of rhythmic imprecision, and the combined forces almost fell apart at one point in Bernstein's Overture to Candide, but these quibbles did not really mar the overall musical excellence of the evening.
Each orchestra was at its best in the multimedia segments highlighting their sets. The UKSO played Carmen Dragon's evocative arrangement of Beautiful Dreamer to a short film about Keeneland, narrated live by the racetrack's former president Ted Bassett, with a beautiful violin solo by Jessica Miskelly. Later, the Boston Pops played a soundtrack to The Horse, another short film narrated live by legendary sportscaster and Lexington native Tom Hammond, with a stirring trumpet solo by Bruce Hall. The Boston Pops also shone in its swinging rendition of 42nd Street and its exciting Theme from The Magnificent Seven.
Perhaps the most delicious morsel of the evening was served in Dragon's lush arrangement of De Camptown Races. On the other hand, a choral/orchestral setting of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody did not work, coming across as uncomfortably square until finally the rock instruments kicked in toward the end of the arrangement.
Another fun feature of the concert had the conductors trade orchestras for one number in each other's sets. Nardolillo, in white tie and tails and working with a baton, made a lively Boston Pops debut with von Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture. Lockhart, in red bow tie and cummerbund and conducting with his hands, led the UKSO in an elegant reading of Rodgers' Carousel Waltz, inspiring particularly fine legato playing from the strings.
The most thrilling part of the evening came when both orchestras joined forces for an unprecedented "side-by-side," in which the UK students shared music stands with the professional Boston Pops players. The huge chorus, composed of the combined UK Choirs, the Lexington Singers and the Lexington Singers Children's Choir, under the direction of Jefferson Johnson and Lori Hetzel, also participated more prominently in this portion of the concert, which began with the rousing sounds of John Williams' Call of the Champions.
Metropolitan Opera soprano Cynthia Lawrence, who also occupies an endowed chair in voice at UK, joined the massed forces for a moving rendition of America the Beautiful, her voice soaring gloriously above the choruses and orchestras. The program ended climactically with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, complete with simulated cannon fire to take the excitement over the top.
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