One thing you can depend on in the Summer in Michigan’s Great Southwest is that the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra will be ‘popping up’ in several places with unique , specially targeted mass appeal Summer concerts. 2024 will be no exception.
The Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra will start off its summer season with a free Pop Up! Concert in Benton Harbor as part of the city’s Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 15.
The Juneteenth celebration will include music after the downtown parade and the SMSO is excited to be included in the lineup of other featured musical performers. SMSO is proud to present Violapalooza.a string quartet featuring Sara Churchill, Rebecca Boelzner, Nora Frisk and Rachel Goff, .
Often, the viola takes the background role, but in this performance it not only takes the lead, but all other roles as well. The all-women viola quartet of SMSO musicians and friends will perform both old and new classical favorites, including compositions by Carl Bohm, Puccini, Filho, Bach, Bookshar and more!
The FREE Juneteenth celebration and concert will be held at the Dwight P. Mitchell City Center Park where the SMSO is expected to perform about 5 pm with a full 45-60 ,imute Pop Up! Performance. Guests are encouraged to come early to take part and enjoy the celebration activities as coordinated by the Benton Harbor Juneteenth Cultural Awareness Committee. Please bring a chair or blanket to sit on.
Turning to the rest of the summer, the Symphony has plans to expand the locations of the Pop Up! Series into other Berrien County communities, throughout the summer and into the fall.
These concerts were started during the pandemic as a thank you to the community for its support of the SMSO. They are free to the public, however, if you are so moved, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to help ensure the fiscal health of the SMSO.
These concerts are supported, in part, by grants from The Pokagon Fund, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
You can find the dates, times and locations of future planned events on the SMSO website, www.smso.org.
