SUMMER HOLIDAY CONCERT SERIES TO BEGIN ON MEMORIAL DAY

The Summer Holiday Concert Series will continue with a tribute to the country's independence by the Missouri Symphony Pops Orchestra. The free family concert will take place at the A.C. Brase Arena Building in Cape Girardeau's Arena Park at 7 p.m. on holiday Mondays.

Fireworks will be held in the Arena Grandstand area after the concert.

Muscial Mondays is a series of free family concerts sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts and local patrons. The concerts are held at 7 p.m. on holidays that fall on Monday throughout the summer : Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.

The concerts feature various professional musical groups which perform traditional American favorites that match the spirit of the holiday. The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band performs a special concert on Memorial Day.

The Missouri Symphony Pops Concert will kick off with the "William Tell Overture" and continue with selections by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Gershwin. The conclusion will feature "Fantasy on the Saints" by Frank Proto. Encores may be expected.

Master of ceremonies, Dick Wilson, will guide the audience through the concert.

Conducted by Hugh Vianello, the Missouri Pops Orchestra has toured Missouri for eight straight years. The Pops Orchestra, which was founded in 1977, consists of musicians selected from nation-wide auditions each year.

The orchestra only tours during the summer. The orchestra members return to their regular jobs as teachers, musicians and professionals. The Pops Orchestra has visited Cape Girardeau several times, the most recent being last July 4.

Maestro Vianello has guided the orchestra since founding it in 1977. He is a musician, composer and arranger in addition to being artistic director and conductor of the Missouri Symphony Society in Columbia and Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony.

Joining the Missouri Symphony Pops again this year will be the master of ceremonies Dick Wilson. For the past 25 years, Wilson has been a radio and television host in the Kansas City area. Nationally he has appeared as host on numerous shows including a weekly late night series for Dick Clark Productions and projects for Walt Disney Studios.

For more information call Beverly or Laura at the Arts Council office at 334-9233.