Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Announces Summer 2021 Concert Series

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has announced that they will be presenting an outdoor series of concerts beginning June 3 and running through September 5th.

The series begins with four concerts at Perinton Center Stage Amphitheater at the Perinton Recreational Center. On Thursday, June 3rd and Friday, June 4th Summer Serenade, a program featuring Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven will be conducted by Music Director Designate Andreas Delfs. This will be the first live concert with an audience that the orchestra will have performed in nearly a year and a half and will be an unforgettably moving experience for musicians and audiences alike.

This will be followed on Thursday, June 10th and Friday, June 11th with Summer Suites, a program featuring Mozart, Grieg and Dvořák, also at Perinton Center Stage Amphitheater and conducted by Maestro Delfs.

Celebración Sinfónica, conducted by Enrico Lopez-Yañez on Thursday, June 17th and Friday, June 18th, features music from Piazzolla, Romero, Ponce, and more and celebrates the music of South and Central America.

Lopez-Yanez returns for Cinematic Strings on Thursday, June 24th and Friday, June 25th and a program featuring music from Game of Thrones, Psycho, The Mission, and more.

These four concerts begin an eight-show summer line up at Perinton Center Stage Amphitheater and will be on sale from May 20th. Upcoming concerts in July and August include guest appearances by Bryon Stripling in a celebration of New Orleans, and Blues artist Shayna Steele, and the return of Maestro Delfs leading the orchestra in two in August.

The safety of patrons, staff and musicians is of paramount importance to the RPO and all CDC guidelines at these outdoor events will be followed. Following on a recent survey conducted by the RPO, safety is the number one factor in determining attendance at events, and the RPO has put safety measures in place to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable musical experience.

Proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test will be required for entry. The RPO will be following CDC guidelines regarding the wearing of masks. Reserved, socially-distanced "pods" of 2 and 4 will be sold at Perinton. For these initial concerts in June, capacity will be limited to 500. Patrons who wish to be among the first to see the orchestra after this long hiatus are encouraged to purchase tickets early. As national, state, and local guidelines evolve throughout the summer, capacity may increase.

"We are grateful to the many people in our community whose generous support has kept the RPO going through these last 15 months, and thrilled to finally be reaching a point where we can get back to making music for our audiences," said Curt Long, President and CEO of the RPO. We are also really excited that Andreas Delfs will be joining us for the first two weeks of performances. For the month of June, we will be limiting attendance to 500 people per night, as recent audience surveys have told us that a significant majority of RPO patrons are ready to attend outdoor concerts as long as we can provide a comfortable and safe environment. We will continue to monitor evolving CDC and New York State safety guidelines and hope to increase attendance levels as we get into July and August."

The line-up for the entire season will be announced soon, but, in addition to Perinton, venues at which the orchestra will be appearing this summer include JCC Canalside Stage and Bristol Mountain. The RPO will be the opening performance for the 2021 summer season at CMAC with Red, White and BOOM! - a concert of patriotic favorites, on July 3rd. Tickets for this performance are available from Friday, May 21st at Ticketmaster.com.

The orchestra also plans a number of free concerts and pop-up appearances around the region throughout the summer including performances along the Erie Canal at Brockport, I-Square in Irondequoit, Meet Me @ the 5, and chamber ensembles in and around downtown Rochester.

Tickets for June concerts at Perinton will go on sale on May 20th and may be purchased at RPO.org or by phone: 585.454.2100. For the complete line-up, and up-to-date information on COVID safety policies and protocols, visit RPO.org.