POPS CONCERT WILL LIGHT JULY 4 FUSE

The fireworks will begin exploding at 9:15 p.m. Sunday at the A.C. Brase Arena Building grandstand, but the musical pyrotechnics by the Missouri Symphony Society Pops will start earlier.

The 43-person symphonic group, led by conductor Hugo Vianello, will provide a free concert at 7 p.m. in the Arena Building, playing a program that ranges from "The Magic Flute" to "West Side Story."

Also on the program are a waltz by Johann Strauss Jr., pieces by Dvorak and Bizet, selections from "Cats," and some patriotic tunes.

If they earn an encore, "Stars and Stripes Forever" is a good bet.

The Missouri Symphony Pops consists of professional musicians who play in other symphony orchestras or teach at the university level. Musicians who hail from all over the country congregate in Columbia every summer for a seven-week festival that includes 10 tour concerts. Most of them range in age from late 20s through 40s.

Vianello, who founded the Missouri Symphony Society in 1977, also is associate conductor of the Kansas City Symphony. In a phone interview from Columbia, he said the group's approach is comparable to that of John Williams' Boston Pops.

"It's entertainment that fulfills some kind of cultural activity," he said.

The Symphony Society recently bought a theater, which, when renovated, will give the orchestra a home. In the meantime, everyone remains accustomed to performing in unfamiliar places.

"I've played there before," Vianello said of the Arena Building. "The sound is going to be different from other places ... but we try to fit into wherever we are performing."

Joining in the performance as emcee will be Jean Madden, a Columbia television and radio personality.

This is the fourth time the group has performed in Cape Girardeau.

Tickets to the free concert are required, and can be obtained at Boatmen's Bank Cape Girardeau locations, Schnucks, the A.C. Brase Arena Building, the Drury Lodge and the Arts Council office. Tickets are limited to 10 per person.

The performance is sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts, with a portion of the cost covered by a $3,400 grant from the Missouri Arts Council.

The Joint Veterans Council is coordinating the fireworks display. Spokesman Pete Poe said Cape Girardeau's display drew a huge crowd last year, the first year it was reinstated after a long drought.

"And we're trying to make it a bit better than last year," he said.

He said the veterans groups have received "tremendous support from the community."