LPO goes country at Southdown performance

Southdown House is holding an event that’s going to be better than a weekend at a dude ranch. Residents of the Tri-parishes will be able to attend a free outdoor concert given by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra on the grounds of the plantation home (1208 Museum Dr. in Houma) at the Buquet Pavilion on Sunday, Sept. 30, from 3 to 5 pm.

The songs and music will have a lively, cowboy and Western theme.

All members of the 70-piece New Orleans symphony orchestra will play, dressed informally in tieless white shirts and black pants.

Guest conductor is LSU Jazz Studies Professor Bill Grimes.

Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase, but guests can bring their own refreshments.

“The concert makes a nice setting to bring a picnic basket,” said museum director Karen Hart.

Reserve seating is available at $25 a person, or $200 for a table of eight. Call (985) 851-0154 for reserve ticket information.

The music will begin with composer John Williams’ score to the 1972 John Wayne movie, “The Cowboys,” followed by a medley of TV Western theme music arranged by Louisiana native Mike Esneault; John Philip Sousa’s “El Capitan” march, and the “Buckaroo Holiday,” “Saturday Night Waltz,” and “Hoe-Down” dance music from U.S. composer Aaron Copland’s 1942 score for his ballet, “Rodeo.” Listeners should recognize “Hoe-Down” as the music to a series of TV commercials used by the National Cattlemen’s Association to promote beef consumption in the U.S.

After an intermission, the sounds will continue pouring out of the Buquet Pavilion with a musical selection from “Oklahoma;” French composer Ferde Grofe’s “On the Trail” from his 1934 symphony, “Grand Canyon Suite;” the theme music from the 1965-1969 TV

Western/fantasy series “Wild Wild West;” and present-day U.S. composer Jeff Tyzik’s “Great Westerns Suite,” a symphonic arrangement of TV themes.

Little cowpokes will be able to get into the swing of things as well.

Before the concert, youngsters-and other family members-can participate in an “Instrument Petting Zoo.” A handful of LPO musicians representing the various sections of the orchestra will be at Southdown from 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm letting kids handle the instruments.

“The ‘petting zoo’ is always a success with the kids and their parents,” said trombonist Greg Miller, who is also the LPO’s personnel manager. He said that at a previous instrument petting zoo, “One little boy seemed fascinated as I moved the slide (on my trombone) back and forth and asked, ‘When you move that tuba back and forth, how come it doesn’t go through your head?’ Good question, I thought.”

This year’s concert by the LPO will be the third in four years held at Southdown. The 2005 event was cancelled because of hurricanes. The 2004 concert drew a crowd of 700, but in 2006, the threat of rain dropped the number below 300.

Guests should take portable chairs, since Southdown will be providing seating only for out-of-town visitors (who would not have taken lawn chairs along on their vacation), and reserve ticket holders.

In case of rain, the alternate venue will be the Houma Municipal Auditorium (880 Verret St.). Guests should take their chairs to the auditorium also.

“The tickets, sponsorships, and refreshment sales will go toward meeting the cost of the event,” Hart said. “If we do raise any extra funds, they will go into the Historical Society’s general budget.”

For more information, call Southdown at (985) 851-0154.