UPDATE: Broadway icon Bernadette Peters is now stepping in for Queen Latifah. Read more here.
VSO fans in Burnaby are in for a double treat this weekend – and it’s all free.
On Saturday, June 29, you can head to Deer Lake Park for a free concert featuring Queen Latifah with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
The film and music legend will perform some of her best-loved standards, including Poetry Man and Georgia Rose from her 2007 album Trav’lin’ Light, songs such as I Know Where I’ve Been and California Dreamin’ from popular musicals including Chicago and Hairspray, and more, all accompanied by the VSO.
The concert was originally by paid ticket only; anyone who has already purchased tickets can donate the ticket back to the VSO to support its accessibility projects, use the ticket value as a credit towards another performance, or request a refund by calling the VSO box office at 604-876-3434 before June 29.
Bring along lawn chairs, food and water bottles, but leave large tents, tarps and umbrellas behind. No pets are allowed (only working dogs are permitted), and no professional audio and video recording devices will be permitted. There will also be no barbecues or fires.
See www.vancouversymphony.ca for the details.
Then, on Sunday, June 30, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra returns for its annual and ever-popular Symphony in the Park extravaganza, featuring a program of beloved popular classics.
Attendees will be able to hear selections from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, Ravel’s Bolero, the overture to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, the prelude to Act III of Wagner’s Lohengrin, and themes from John Williams’ E.T.
New to the concert this year is an opening performance from the VSO Orchestral Institute, which includes students from the orchestral training program.
Everyone is invited to turn out with blankets and picnic dinner to take in the concert. The prelude performance begins at 6 p.m., with the feature concert at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
One note: Parking is limited around the site, so it’s recommended that you get there on foot, by bicycle or by transit wherever possible.
Check out www.burnaby.ca/vso for the details.
