“The maestro and his musical colleagues of the late Long Island Philharmonic are returning for a pair of summer concerts—at least,” reports Steve Parks in Tuesday’s (4/26) Newsday (New York). “David Stewart Wiley, music director of the Philharmonic for 15 years before it disbanded in February, said Tuesday that he again will be conducting musicians who played for the Island’s only fully professional classical symphony orchestra.… The concerts are set for July 16 at Heckscher State Park in East Islip and Aug. 13 at Heckscher Park in Huntington. Both events, previously booked with the Philharmonic, are free.… But there’s also a movement by a core of supporters to re-establish an Islandwide symphony orchestra.… After hanging on through years of concert cutbacks to reduce its debt, the Philharmonic called it quits when New Jersey-based Valley National Bank rejected a proposed loan restructuring.… Lawrence Levy, a former board member, said that ‘a number of economic and development planners recognize that the arts are an important asset to the region.… But the time to step up is now, when there’s still all this energy and anger about losing such a vital institution.’ ”
Posted April 27, 2016
