Are you a musician or just an enthusiast of the orchestra? Spend your afternoon on Thursday, August 8 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center for a unique experience. For its third year in a row, the Philadelphia Orchestra invites string musicians and students of intermediate to advanced skill levels to perform with and learn from members of the Philadelphia Orchestra during PlayIN at SPAC.
At 1:30 pm, participants will play with the renowned orchestra on SPAC’s main stage before a live audience. The event, featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, is open to all violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists of intermediate to advanced skill levels, regardless of age. Guests will also be working with assistant conductor Kensho Watanabe and First Associate Concertmaster Juliette Kang.
The event is free for the public to watch, but interested musicians must register beforehand as there is limited space (there will be a waiting list after the spaces are filled). Participants will check in at 12:30 pm before the 1:30 pm event.
The program will consist of works by Grieg, Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Holst. Participants can download PDFs of the music on SPAC’s website so they can prepare ahead of time.
In the evening, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will return to the stage to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra in their latest performance, American Idylls, featuring Blue Cathedral by Jennifer Higdon, Mason Bates’ Anthology of Fantastic Zoology, and Copland’s Appalachian Spring suite.
The PlayIN events, which have also been held in Philadelphia, are part of the Orchestra’s HEAR (Health, Education, Access, and Research) initiative, which encourages public interaction with music.
