Between them, Arizona Symphonic Winds and Tucson Pops Orchestra have performed well over 2,000 free concerts for at least three generations of Tucsonans.
The Pops has 70 years under its belt performing "Music Under the Stars" at Reid Park's DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center. The Winds have been doing "Music In the Park" at Udall Park for 40 years.
The Pops does a three-concert series in the fall and spring; the Winds do four concerts each season.
Neither charges admission and both attract sizeable crowds to their concerts — 7,000 to 8,000 on average at the Sunday evening Pops concerts, and 700-800 at the Winds.
Both ensembles will launch their spring seasons — No. 71 for the Pops, the 41st for the Winds — this weekend, just in time to honor Mom on Mother's Day on Sunday.
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The Winds perform at 7 p.m. Saturdays through May at Udall Park's László Veres Amphitheater, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road. The outdoor venue is named after the Winds founder and longtime conductor, who also led the Pops for 30 years before turning the baton over to its current music director Khris Dodge in 2022.
Conductor László Veres is leading Arizona Symphonic Winds in its 41st "Music In the Park" concert series beginning Saturday. The series runs on Saturdays through May 30 at Udall Park.
The Pops perform at 7 p.m. Sundays through May 21 at Reid Park, 900 S. Randolph Way, off South Country Club Road and East 22nd Street.
Veres is back for 41st Winds season
László Veres has been conducting in Tucson for 60 years, 41 of them at the podium of Arizona Symphonic Winds, which he formed as a complement to the Tucson Pops Orchestra. Until 2022, Veres was leading both ensembles in their fall and spring parks series.
The 88-year-old Veres is a former Tucson Symphony Orchestra clarinetist and school music teacher.
The season opens on May 9 with "Future Stars," featuring young musicians including oboist Grace Seo, trombonist Joshua Parker and trumpeter/composer Oliver Ward, whose trumpet and trombone duet "Liftoff!" is among the works on the program.
László Veres will don his John Philip Sousa “uniform” to lead the Arizona Symphonic Winds on May 23.
"Stars of the Winds" on May 16 shines a spotlight on Winds' trumpeter Dan Pinda, performing "Ode for Trumpet"; and tuba player Alan Honeker, playing "Tuba Tiger Rag."
Veres will put on his John Philip Sousa uniform, complete with gold braids and medals, for "An Evening With John Phillip Sousa" on May 23. TSO principal flute Alexander Lipay will perform Mozart's Concerto for Flute on a program that includes Sousa favorites "March Carnival," "Coloney Bogey March" and "Armed Forces Salute."
"An Evening with Dori" featuring soprano Dori Cărdenas-Smith closes the spring series on May 30.
Cărdenas-Smith will sing selections by Puccini, including the famous "O Mio Babino Caro" and selections of songs from Rodgers, Gershwin and others.
Other highlights on the program include Verdi's Overture to "La Forza del Destino" and Franz Lehár's Gold and Silver Waltz.
For 71 years, Tucson Pops has been a tradition
Tucson Pops Conductor Khris Dodge, shown here leading the orchestra in a recent Ballet Tucson collaboration, is bringing the orchestra back to Reid Park this weekend for the 71st annual "Music Under the Stars" concert series.
If you're hard-pressed for the perfect gift for mom, take her to Reid Park on Sunday — Mother's Day — and treat her to a free Tucson Pops Orchestra concert.
Hey, it's not a cheap date. Yes, you don't have to buy a ticket, but surely you'll slip in a buck or 10 when they pass the donation bucket at halftime.
And there's the cost of gas to get there; that alone is gonna set you back a sweet penny. But you gotta buy mom some flowers and pack a picnic supper, or at the very least some classy snacks like a charcuterie board.
There. Mom's perfect day.
Khris Dodge and the Tucson Pops Orchestra are honoring mom with the Mother's Day concert to open their spring "Music Under the Stars" series at Reid Park.
And Mom will love what Maestro Khris Dodge and the orchestra, comprised of moonlighting Tucson Symphony Orchestra and University of Arizona musicians, have in store to open the Pops' 71st "Music Under the Stars" spring concert series at Reid Park.
The concert opens with the Arizona Women's Chorus performing Dodge's five-part choral work "The Tides of Life," which the chorus will premiere at Carnegie Hall in June.
In the concert's second half, Tucson vocalists Sarah Tolar and Liz Cracciolo will duet on Broadway classics including "When you Wish Upon a Star," "Unforgettable," "Over the Rainbow," "All of Me" and "It's Not Easy Being Green."
Tucson Repertory Orchestra Conductor Toru Tagawa will lead the Pops on May 17 in a program that includes the soloist debut of 16-year-old Tucson violinist Carly Cook, a sophomore at Canyon del Oro High School, where Tagawa has taught since 2008.
Carly plays in the Tucson Repertory Orchestra as well as the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra.
Greg Curtis Wakefield joins the Pops and Dodge as a narrator to close out the spring series on May 21 with a patriotic Memorial Day concert.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
