The Philadelphia Orchestra announces free Neighborhood Concert in Camden, N.J., for summer 2005

The concert is planned in conjunction with the following Camden Planning Committee Partners: Cooper University Hospital, City of Camden Mayor's Office, City of Camden Department of Health and Human Services, Camden City Board of Education, Camden City Public Schools, Camden Neighborhood Renaissance, Settlement Music School/Camden School of Musical Arts Branch, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Anointed News Journal, Northgate II Development, and State Street Housing Corporation

Wachovia supports The Philadelphia Orchestra's Neighborhood Concert program for 2nd year

(Philadelphia, March 3, 2005)

The Philadelphia Orchestra plays a free Neighborhood Concert at Whitman Park in Camden, N.J. on Tuesday, July 5, as part of its annual Neighborhood Concert series. Wachovia once again is the presenting sponsor of this popular program, and helps to realize the Orchestra's goal of bringing music to neighborhoods throughout the Philadelphia region. This is one of three Neighborhood Concerts that The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform this summer. Additional dates will be announced at a later time.

"It gives us great pleasure to have Wachovia as a partner once again for our entire Neighborhood Concert program," says Orchestra President Joseph H. Kluger. "Their generous financial support allows us to continue to bring the music of The Philadelphia Orchestra into diverse neighborhoods, and we look forward to working with our Camden partners to return again this summer."

"We're proud to play a key role in the Philadelphia Orchestra coming back to Camden," says Hugh Long, Wachovia CEO for Pennsylvania and Delaware. "Their return is a sign of Camden's continued renaissance and more proof that people on both sides of the river can work together to make great things happen."

After a successful concert at Dudley Grange Park in Camden last summer, The Philadelphia Orchestra returns with a program that includes performances by Camden students and residents. Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Rossen Milanov conducts Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story as well as gospel selections performed by a community choir made up of Camden residents. A group of student percussionists from Camden, who will receive coaching from Philadelphia Orchestra musicians, will also join the Orchestra onstage for the concert. Other small ensemble performances and outreach events are being planned for the months and weeks leading up to the performance.

The concert is the climax of The Philadelphia Orchestra's year-round initiative to bring the transformational power of orchestral music to Camden residents. Philadelphia Orchestra staff and musicians have been working with a team of community leaders - the Camden Planning Committee Partners - to bring the Orchestra's music to Camden and to contribute to the city's rebirth. The partners are Cooper University Hospital, City of Camden Mayor's Office, City of Camden Department of Health and Human Services, Camden City Board of Education, Camden City Public Schools, Camden Neighborhood Renaissance, Settlement Music School/Camden School of Musical Arts Branch, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Anointed News Journal, Northgate II Development, and State Street Housing Corporation.

Robert Hammond, director of family/community development at Northgate Park in Camden, says, "I see the Neighborhood Concert program having a tremendous impact in Camden. It is not often that an organization of the caliber of The Philadelphia Orchestra comes to Camden to do this type of work. The tangible interaction that our young people have with the Orchestra musicians will have a long-term impact on them and on the community."

"We're delighted to be returning to Camden this summer after last year's successful concert," Orchestra Director of Education and Community Partnerships Sarah Johnson said. "We are thrilled that the city's leadership considers the Orchestra an important partner in the revitalization effort. Their enthusiastic response inspired us to build a year-round presence in Camden, and to deepen our connections with its residents."

In 2004, The Philadelphia Orchestra presented a series of community events in Camden leading up to the summer Neighborhood Concert. The events included master classes for high school students, small-ensemble concerts in parks and community centers, and string quartet performances in churches. In June 2004, cellist Robert Cafaro organized a group of Orchestra musicians and staff to work at Habitat for Humanity projects in East Camden. Last fall, more than 1,500 students from Camden were given tickets to attend the Orchestra's School Concerts at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Numerous similar outreach events are planned for the rest of 2005.

Camden residents have also had opportunities to perform with Philadelphia Orchestra musicians. In January 2005, singers from Camden performed in a community concert choir at the Orchestra's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Concert; and in July 2004, Orchestra musicians and members of Antioch Baptist Church in Camden presented a collaborative performance.

The Philadelphia Orchestra's Neighborhood Concert series

The 2005 Neighborhood Concert series continues The Philadelphia Orchestra's commitment to celebrating the vitality of neighborhoods throughout the Philadelphia region, bringing the Orchestra into communities in a variety of settings, and introducing the world-renowned ensemble to new audiences. The Orchestra revived its free Neighborhood Concerts in 2000 as part of its centennial celebrations as a tangible expression of the Orchestra's gratitude to the people of Philadelphia for their 100 years of support. By bringing the gift of music into the communities where people live, the Orchestra has worked to break down the barriers that separate it from many people in the community. The Neighborhood Concerts have continued each year since the centennial. In 2000, the Orchestra performed free Neighborhood Concerts in Upper Darby, North Philadelphia, Rittenhouse Square, and Northeast Philadelphia. Subsequent Neighborhood Concerts were held in West Philadelphia in 2001; Washington Township, N.J., in 2002; and South Philadelphia in 2003. In 2004, the Orchestra expanded its Neighborhood Concert series to include a total of three concerts. Performances in Camden and at Penn's Landing took place successfully, but a concert scheduled at Montgomery County Community College was canceled due to rain.

In addition to the generous support of Wachovia, this year's series of three Neighborhood Concerts is made possible in part through the ongoing support offered by the Orchestra's fund for education and community, one of four funds established with the Annenberg Foundation's $50 million gift to the Orchestra's endowment. Printing services for the concert series are provided by Canon Business Solutions.

The Philadelphia Orchestra's educational and outreach activities enrich the lives of over 35,000 youngsters and 140,000 adults in the Philadelphia region each year, through a variety of musical encounters. The Orchestra also serves as the region's greatest ambassador to our country and the world through domestic and international tours, serving as a cultural bridge and economic development engine for greater Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Orchestra in New Jersey

The Philadelphia Orchestra has a long history with the state of New Jersey. During the early 20th century, in the first decades of The Philadelphia Orchestra's existence, the Orchestra performed many concerts outside of Philadelphia—throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and beyond. As the Orchestra grew, performances outside of Philadelphia became less frequent as the Orchestra concentrated on building a home season. Over the years, the Orchestra has appeared throughout New Jersey, including performances in Trenton, Camden, Newark, Atlantic City, Princeton, New Brunswick, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, and at the Garden State Center for the Arts in Holmdel.

The Philadelphia Orchestra also has strong non-performance ties to the state of New Jersey. The Orchestra's New Jersey Volunteer Committee, formed in 1938, has an active school docent program. The Philadelphians were the first orchestra to record with Victor/RCA Victor and nearly all of the ensemble's recordings from 1917 until the early 1940s were made at RCA headquarters in Camden. From 1994 to 1997, many of the Orchestra's recordings for EMI Classics, London/Decca, Sony Classical, and Deutsche Grammophon took place at the Giandomenico facility (formerly a movie theater) in Collingswood. Members of The Philadelphia Orchestra also recorded the soundtrack to Lights of Liberty at the Giandomenico facility. Nearly one-third of the Orchestra's musicians live in New Jersey (34 out of 106 musicians). Of the Orchestra's nearly 30,000 annual subscribers, nearly 5,000 reside in New Jersey. Rossen Milanov, associate conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, also serves as music director of the Haddonfield Symphony in Haddonfield.

Founded in 1900, The Philadelphia Orchestra has distinguished itself as one of the leading orchestras in the world through a century of acclaimed performances, historic international tours, best-selling recordings, and its unprecedented record of innovation in recording technologies and outreach. With only six music directors piloting The Philadelphia Orchestra through its first century, the ensemble has maintained an unparalleled cohesiveness and unity in artistic leadership.

This rich tradition is carried on by Christoph Eschenbach, who began his tenure as the Orchestra's seventh music director in September 2003. Concluding an acclaimed first season together that saw the launch of the Orchestra's first-ever multi-year cycle of Mahler's complete symphonies, Maestro Eschenbach and the Orchestra toured the music capitals of Europe in the spring of 2004.

The Philadelphia Orchestra annually touches the lives of more than 1 million music lovers worldwide through its performances (more than 300 concerts and other presentations each year), publications, recordings, and broadcasts. A major winter subscription season is presented in Philadelphia each year from September to May, in addition to education and community partnership programs. Its summer schedule includes a month-long outdoor season in Philadelphia at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, free concerts in local neighborhoods, and a three-week residency each August at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in upstate New York.

CAMDEN NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT
Whitman Park, Davis and Copewood Streets, Camden, NJ

July 5 at 7:00 p.m. - Tuesday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Community Concert Choir

Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Additional works TBA

This concert is free and open to the public.
Wachovia presents the 2005 Neighborhood Concert series with The Philadelphia Orchestra.