Christopher Ramaekers will direct two outdoor concerts on July 28 and Aug. 22 in Lake Forest featuring popular classical music performed by a large contingent of the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra.
“It’s music people will know,” said Ramaekers. In other words, the listener might recognize a melody even if not familiar with the name of the piece or the composer.
Both concerts begin at 6 p.m. and are held outdoors at the Gorton Community Center in Lake Forest. Tickets can be purchased online, and the audience should bring lawn chairs or blankets.
The July concert’s theme is “Morning and Evening.”
“We’re starting with (Joseph) Haydn’s ‘Morning Symphony,’ We’ll do the first movement,” Ramaekers said. “I love this symphony because the first movement is bright, peppy and energetic. It’s happy in a way you’d expect from Haydn.”
Following will be “Chanson de Matin,” or “Morning Song,” a piece written by Edward Elgar for solo violin and piano, but orchestrated for strings and winds. “It’s a short, cheerful tune,” Ramaekers said.
The group will also perform Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite,” which has a famous flute solo, which many should recognize, according to Ramaekers. The suite also includes “Hall of the Mountain King,” which Ramaekers said is “decidedly darker (than the beginning of the piece) and more energetic.”
“The Hall of the Mountain King,” which begins with a bassoon solo, has been used in various commercials and on television and movies as well as video games.
The program will close with W.A. Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” or “A Little Night Music.”
Ramaekers will turn to the opera for the August concert, directing overtures also with recognizable tunes including G. Rossini’s “Overture to the Barber of Seville,” followed by incidental music including “Farandole” written by Georges Bizet. The music was written to be performed as interludes during a play.
“No one knows much about the play, but everybody knows ‘Farandole,’” Ramaekers said.
“We’ll briefly get heavy for three minutes,” he said. “We’ll play Wagner’s Prelude to Act 3 of ‘Lohengrin.’ Wagner has written some very long operas, but this prelude is short and “really bright and energetic,’” Ramaekers said.
The program will end with what Ramaekers said is an opera favorite, music from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen.” Ramaekers said the orchestra did two summer concerts last year but with a much smaller chamber group of performers who followed the pandemic protocols.
During the pandemic, Ramaekers has organized small groups for small audiences to keep his performers playing and music lovers entertained. The large orchestra went to a much smaller group called a chamber orchestra.
“We put all kinds of social distancing in place, limiting the time of rehearsal. We were playing with 10 and 15 people for most of the year, and we did it with a very limited audience,” he said. A May concert included nearly the full orchestra and featured student winners of a concerto competition, who were unable to play their pieces earlier because of the pandemic, he said. High school students performed on cello, viola, violin and piano.
Now with the pandemic diminishing, Ramaekers is ready to begin a new full season.
The full orchestra plans to have its first 2021/2022 season concert in October. The performances are to be held in the John and Nancy Hughes Theater at Gorton Center in Lake Forest.
Ramaekers joined the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra for the 2018-19 season, sharing the music director role with Robert Nordling.
Ramaekers is now the group’s sole music director and also serves as director of orchestras at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He was winner of the 2011 American Prize in Orchestral Conducting and holds degrees from Western Michigan University and Northwestern University.
Lake Forest Civic Orchestra
When: 6 p.m. July 28, Aug. 22
Where: Outdoors, Gorton Community Center 400 E. Illinois Road, Lake Forest
Tickets: $10-$20
Information: 847-234-6060, lakeforestcivicorchestra.org
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer for the News-Sun.
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