Arts and Entertainment

Music in the Gardens concert rescheduled for June 9

Music in the Gardens opens the 2016 Music at Penn's Woods summer schedule June 9 with an evening of music performed outdoors in the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens at The Arboretum at Penn State. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Editor's Note: Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the Music in the Gardens concert originally planned for Wednesday evening, June 8, at The Arboretum at Penn State has been moved to Thursday evening, June 9. Hourly forecasts for Wednesday evening predict temperatures to drop below thresholds considered safe for the instruments. Thursday's temperatures are forecasted to be more conducive for the outdoor concert, which will follow the same schedule and format previously announced.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Plan on meeting friends at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at The Arboretum at Penn State for Music in the Gardens: Healing the Soul. Partnering with Mount Nittany Health and The Arboretum at Penn State, the concert opens the 2016 Music at Penn's Woods summer schedule with an evening of music performed outdoors within the garden rooms of the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens. 

The program is open to the public free of charge. Plan to arrive early. Last year the attendance was more than 1,000 visitors.

Guests are invited to come early to explore nature's healing force by wandering the garden pathways, drinking in the heady aromas of the summer rose garden, and sitting in quiet meditation pondering the Joel N. Myers sundial. Between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., musicians from the Music at Penn's Woods Festival will be planted throughout the gardens. Each musician will perform a 10- to 12-minute selection several times throughout the hour so that visitors will have the opportunity to move around the gardens and not miss an artist. The music continues until 7:20 p.m. as visitors walk the garden paths and lose themselves in the serenity of the visual and aural beauty.

Featured musicians in the gardens will be:

  • Robyn Dixon Costa and Tony Costa: Woodwind duo at the Rose and Fragrance Garden
  • Jim Lyon and Carol Lyon: String duo in the North Terrace
  • Daryl Durran and Naomi Seidman: Wind duo in the Children's Garden near the mushrooms
  • Jonathan Dexter: Cello solo in the Pavilion
  • Cathy Herrera: Flute solo at the Esplanade near the sundial

Meet friends back on the event lawn at 7:30 p.m. for an exciting program. This year the musicians performing on the event lawn will be amplified so that all may enjoy the exquisite music. Blankets and lawn chairs are permitted for this special occasion. Guests may enter the gardens and place their chairs and/or blankets on the lawn and wander the gardens before returning for this exciting concert. 

The lawn program includes:

  • "Divertimento, K. 270" by Mozart with Tim Hurtz and Robyn Costa, oboes; Grace Shafer and Matt Patton, horns; Daryl Durran and Carly Andriaccio, bassoons
  • "Doppler Effect" by Adrienne Albert with Cathy Herrera, flute; Austin Oprean, trombone; Anne Sullivan, harp
  • "Music for Brass Quintet" with Grace Shafer, horn; Stephen McLean and James Allison, trumpets; Austin Oprean, trombone; Ryan Hayward, tuba

Let the magic of music performed by members of the Music at Penn's Woods Festival Orchestra, joined with the visual beauty of the Arboretum's magnificent gardens, both heal and restore your soul. Alcoholic beverages, food, pets, bicycles, and sports equipment, including footballs and frisbees, are prohibited at the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens.

Last Updated June 8, 2016