Media Relations & Tourism Sales Department of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Larry Meehan, Vice President of Media Relations & Tourism Sales, lmeehan@bostonusa.com, 617-867-8231; Stacy Shreffler, Media Relations & Tourism Sales Manager, sshreffler@bostonusa.com 617-867-8203. Emily Nichols, Harron & Associates, Inc., emily@harronandassociates.com, 617-267-7366

THE LANDMARKS FESTIVAL AT THE SHELL

RETURNS TO BOSTON’S ESPLANADE

FOR THE SECOND SEASON

Boston Landmarks Orchestra Will Produce 10 Free Concerts

at the Hatch Shell on Wednesday Evenings Beginning July 9

and will perform Neighborhood and Children’s Concerts in Boston, Cambridge and Quincy

Boston, MA – April 14, 2008 – Charles Ansbacher, Conductor and Artistic Director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, announced the return of the Landmarks Festival at the Shell for a second season.  Last year, thousands of people came to the Esplanade, located off Storrow Drive along the banks of the Charles River, on Wednesday evenings to hear classical music performed for free.  This year’s festival will offer Boston music lovers an additional concert, so performances will run from July 9-September 10, 2008.

“Last year’s success proved that Bostonians and our visitors are extraordinarily open to hearing the classics in an outdoor setting, performed for free.  The history and the setting of the Hatch Shell make it a unique outdoor venue for classical music,” said Ansbacher, who along with being the founder of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra also serves as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Moscow Symphony and the Conductor Laureate of the Colorado Springs Symphony.  “This year we are highlighting the performers who teach and study at our excellent schools of music including Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute,” he continued.

The opening night concert is titled Copland and the New World, and will feature Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Lincoln Portrait, as well as Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

Collaborators for some of the concerts include the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Orchestra with Conductor Paul Haas on July 30, and Boston Lyric Opera on August 6 for Opera Highlights. Also joining the Festival are the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, with Conductor Jonathan McPhee on August 20, and on closing night, September 10, Chorus Pro Musica.

Over the past six years, the Boston Landmarks Orchestra has commissioned new works for children based on events or individuals in Boston’s history. This year’s new commission is about John and Abigail Adams as seen through the eyes of their son, John Quincy Adams, and will be called: “John Adams: The Voice Heard ‘Round the World.” It will be presented in a special performance at the Adams National Historic Site in Quincy on July 24 at 7:00 p.m. The piece will also be performed at the Children’s Concerts at the Shirley Eustis House in Roxbury on July 17 at 10:30 a.m. and noon, and at the Great Hall in Codman Square in Dorchester on July 18 at 10:30 a.m. and noon.

“With all the publicity surrounding the Adams family this year, it seemed an excellent opportunity to create a musical piece about them aimed at young children, which could also introduce them to orchestral music,” said Orchestra Manager Virginia Hecker. “The piece is composed by Anthony DiLorenzo with text by Marian Carlson,” she continued.

Another Boston Landmarks Orchestra tradition that will continue is the Neighborhood Concerts. The series brings free, classical music to diverse neighborhoods in Boston through the month of July.  Concerts will be performed in Cambridge at Sanders Theater on July 11 at 8:00 p.m. sponsored by Harvard University Division of Continuing Education, at Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain on July 20 at 6:00 p.m., and at Dorchester Park in Dorchester on July 27 at 6:00 p.m.

The Landmarks Festival at the Shell is being held in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Recreation and Conservation and WCRB 99.5 FM.  Print and TV media sponsors for all concerts are the Boston Globe and New England Cable News Network.  Radio sponsor for the Neighborhood and Children’s concerts is WGBH. The Boston Landmarks Orchestra is sponsored by a variety of corporations, foundations and individuals including the Boston Globe Foundation, Bank of America, The Boston Foundation, and State Street.

Rain location for all Hatch Shell concerts is the Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street, Boston. All concerts are free and open to the public. For more information about Landmarks Festival at the Shell, and other programs, please visit www.LandmarksOrchestra.org

About Charles Ansbacher, Conductor and Artistic Director:

Charles Ansbacher founded the Boston Landmarks Orchestra in 2001 to perform free concerts celebrating historical, geographical and architectural settings. By presenting exceptional music performances in significant settings, the Orchestra fosters a broad appreciation of classical music while bringing together the area’s diverse communities.  Ansbacher has been bringing free classical music to diverse audiences around the world for over 35 years. Whether in the parks of Colorado Springs, where he led the orchestra for almost twenty years, the beloved concert halls of Vienna, or in economically troubled countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Maestro Ansbacher has proven that he has a keen ability to organize the myriad elements necessary to bring music to broad and diverse audiences.

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