The hills will be alive with the sound of music this summer with the second annual Symphony in the Flint Hills.
Tickets go on sale today for the symphony. Only 5,000 tickets will be available for the concert. Last year’s concert was performed to a sold-out crowd.
“The early sellout last year proves that the combination of art and nature ignites the imagination and gives people a reason to experience the magic of the Flint Hills,” said Emily Hunter, event coordinator.
The 2007 concert will be at 6:30 p.m. June 16 on Schwarting Ranch, a privately owned ranch near Lake Wabaunsee, that stretches over a range of grassland ridges in Wabaunsee County, located in the Flint Hills between Emporia and Topeka.
The music will come from the 80-piece Kansas City Symphony, performing a concert that reflects the spirit of the American prairie and features well-known works that evoke images of the landscape. The symphony will be directed by Kansas City Symphony Assistant Conductor Damon Gupton. The symphony will perform selections from Aaron Copland’s “An Outdoor Adventure,” Antonin Dvorak’s 9th Symphony in E Minor “From the New World” and John Barry’s “Dances with Wolves.”
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius serves as the honorary chair of this year’s event.
Other activities will be offered at the concert site the day of the event. Educational activities will begin at 1 p.m. An afternoon full of opportunities to learn about and experience grassland culture and heritage are being planned. Activities are included in the ticket price and consist of: wildflower and prairie walks with Kansas Native Plant Society guides; presentations about cowboys and historic ranching in the Flint Hills and Wabaunsee County; first-person interpretations by regional historians in 1880s costumes; birding with Kansas Audubon Society members; discussion about modern-day ranching in the Flint Hills; presentations of regional Native American culture; The Wabaunsee County story; musical instrument “petting zoo” provided by the Kansas City Symphony Auxiliary; and horse-drawn wagon rides into the prairie.
A new feature this year is twilight wagon rides, old-time acoustic music with fiddles, banjos, guitars and harmonicas. Food and beverages will be available until late into the evening.
The concert site is in the middle of the prairie at the end of a walking trail. Transportation to the concert site is available on wagons, but attendees are encouraged to walk the wildflower trail. This year, the walk is 2/3 of a mile with no elevation changes.
Attendees should plan on arriving at the site at least one hour before the 6:30 p.m. concert. Transportation to the site will begin at 1 p.m. The last rides to the concert site will leave the parking area at 5:30 p.m. Chairs will be available for rent at the concert site, however, concert attendees may bring their own lawn chairs or blankets to sit on during the concert.
Food and drink will be available for purchase at the concert site. Concert attendees are allowed to bring their own picnic. No alcoholic beverages or glass containers allowed. Wine and beer will be on sale at the site after 1 p.m. Hard-sided coolers will not be allowed.
Many activities throughout Wabaunsee County will be going on during the weekend. Eight historic towns are planning tours and events throughout the concert weekend. Alma will host a traditional German lunch and Paxico will offer a wine tasting and antique-store open house. An exhibit of 30 new National Geographic magazine photographs of the Flint Hills by Kansas Photographer Jim Richardson will be on display in Eskridge.
pizza (anonymous) says...
So where do you purchase tickets?
March 5, 2007 at 8:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Flips (anonymous) says...
Here is their web page with more information:
http://www.symphonyintheflinthills.org/
March 6, 2007 at 12:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Flips (anonymous) says...
Here is more information for you also:
Tickets may be purchased by:
Telephone: 816.471.0400
Online: www.kcsymphony.org
Email: info@kcsymphony.org
Walk in: Kansas City Symphony Box Office, 1020 Central, Suite 300, Kansas City MO 64105. Box office hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Ticket prices:
Adult: $35
Student (ID required*): $24
Child (12 and under): $14
All prices include: handling fees, postage, printing and 6.3% sales tax.
Concert date: Saturday, June 16, 2007
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Rain date: Sunday June 17, 2007
All programs and event times are subject to change without notice. No refunds, no exchanges. In case of event cancellation the ticket may be used as a tax deductible contribution.
March 6, 2007 at 12:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pizza (anonymous) says...
Thank you very much Flips.
The Gazette writer should have done just a little more research for her article. Otherwise it was an informative story.
March 6, 2007 at 9:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mylife (anonymous) says...
The information about ticket prices and where to get them appeared in the print version of the article in yesterday's paper. For some reason that did not upload to the Web.
March 6, 2007 at 10:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )