SLIDESHOW: Annual march down Pratt kicks off Chautauqua’s Fourth of July festivities
The 2014 annual Fourth of July Children’s School Parade Friday brings cute smiles and patriotism to Chautauqua.
The 2014 annual Fourth of July Children’s School Parade Friday brings cute smiles and patriotism to Chautauqua.
DFT Communications, Partners in Technology, is teaming up with Chautauqua Institution for the second time this season to help underwrite a special Community Appreciation Night.
Last Friday, the Children’s School ended its opening days with the “Instrument of the Week,” a way of bringing the sounds of the orchestra to their color-coated classrooms. Violinist Rachel Gallegos and violist Katelyn Hoag, members of the MSFO, performed as the kids’ eyes widened with curiosity and heads shook off-rhythm.
Shortly before coming to work at Chautauqua Institution in 1996, Jared Jacobsen made a stop at a tiny parish church in London around July 4 to play a recently restored 16th-century pipe organ. He performed “Variations on ‘America,’ ” by Charles Ives, and “the aisles went crazy.”
The U.S. Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus has been coming to Chautauqua Institution for years. But last year, they were noticeably absent.
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Red, white and blue will be the colors of choice today, but at 12:15 p.m. on Bestor Plaza, a particular shade of light blue will stand out.
The Chautauqua Community Band, all donning light blue Community Band shirts, will come together to play the 22nd Annual Independence Day concert.
Bestor Plaza will be covered with blankets and lawn chairs, packed with families enjoying a Fourth of July picnic lunch. The audience will watch family, friends and neighbors participate in the Children’s School parade, followed by the Community Band’s concert. The concert is a mix of familiar, Americana classics and traditional sing-alongs.
Chautauqua’s Amphitheater will be oddly benchless this Independence Day. Instead of settling into seats, Amp program attendees tonight will swing across the dance floor to the music of the Ladies First Big Band.
Tunes such as “Sing Sing Sing” and “Jump Jive an’ Wail” will waft throughout the Institution grounds as part of the Amphitheater Ball from 8 to 10 p.m. The music, provided by the 16 female members of the Ladies First Big Band, will be a jazzy-swing style laden with big band classics from the 1930s and ’40s.
“So many events are segregated by age, but this breaks down the barriers,” said Director of Programming Marty Merkley. “The Amphitheater Ball is an event that brings the community — and all ages — together.”
At approximately 10 a.m. today on the steps of the Colonnade, Children’s School will engage in historic local and national traditions.
After parading from the Children’s School to Bestor Plaza — a tradition dating back more than 50 years — children will sing patriotic songs, including Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” Guthrie’s famous 1940 folk song originally spread and was popularized by children who learned it in school; when those children grew up, a nation knew and loved the song.
Music teacher Annie Palmquist prepares the children for their performance and will accompany them on the guitar this morning.
Chautauqua organist Jared Jacobsen will perform a Fourth of July-themed organ mini-concert on the Tallman Tracker Organ at 12:15 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ.
The concert is titled “Yankee Sensibility,” and will feature “Variations on America” by I. V. Flagler.
“It’s kind of flashy and fun, and it’s a little bit like musical fireworks,” Jacobsen said. “So I think it fits for the Fourth of July.”