BSO Announces 2013 Summer Season at Oregon Ridge Park

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra today announced its programming for the Summer 2013 concert season including selections from Baroque masters, The Matrix Live in Concert, a celebration of Gershwin's Greatest Hits, music from the classic video game The Legend of Zelda and the opportunity for young singers to share the stage with the BSO. See below for a complete calendar of events, including venue and ticketing information. Artist biographies immediately follow season calendar.

The summer season begins with Baltimore's favorite Fourth of July tradition: the Star-Spangled Spectacular at Oregon Ridge Park (Cockeysville, Md.) on July 3 & 4, featuring patriotic favorites that culminate in a brilliant fireworks display. Maestro Robert Bernhardt leads the BSO in selections such as Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever and more. The program also features soprano Katie Van Kooten, singing songs from America's soundtrack. Each concert begins with the National Anthem, sung by the winner(s) of the BSO's sixth annual "O, Say Can You Sing?" singing competition. (Full details about the competition, including audition information, will be announced at a later date.)

On July 11 at the Music Center at Strathmore and July 12 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney will lead the orchestra in a concert featuring the Masters of Baroque, celebrating music that expanded the size, range and complexity of musical performance. Highlights from late Baroque music include "Winter" and "Summer" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 and Handel's Royal Fireworks Suite and Water Music.

On July 13 at the Meyerhoff, the BSO presents The Matrix Live in Concert. Composer Don Davis will lead the orchestra as it performs the soundtrack to a live screening of the 1999 science fiction action film starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss. The Academy Award-winning movie has been praised by film critics and audiences alike for its innovative visual effects and cinematography.

Maestro Case Scaglione joins pianist Jon Nakamatsu and the BSO in Gershwin's Greatest Hits on July 25 at the Music Center at Strathmore and July 26 at the Meyerhoff. Mr. Nakamatsu's 2007 all-Gershwin recording with Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic featuring Rhapsody in Blue rose to number three on Billboard's classical music charts and earned extraordinary critical acclaim. The BSO will perform Rhapsody and more in this concert of his best-known works.

The BSO's summer season closes with a presentation of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, July 27 at the Meyerhoff. While the Orchestra performs melodies from Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and more, fan-favorite scenes from the games will flash on a jumbo screen above the stage. Patrons are encouraged to attend the concert dressed as their favorite Hyrule characters.