Indiana’s Whiting Park Festival Orchestra in performance with Music Director Robert Vodnoy.

In last Monday’s (7/21) NWI Life (Valparaiso, Indiana), Philip Balton writes, “On the cool evening of Saturday, July 20, the Whiting Park Festival Orchestra (WPFO) performed the first concert of its Summer with the Symphony series at Whiting Lakefront Park’s Mary E. Bercik Memorial Pavilion. The theme of this free concert was ‘Don’t Mess with Mother Nature!’ Attendees set up their lawn chairs and folding tables on the grass in front of the pavilion … Martin Dybel, general manager of the WPFO, founded the orchestra alongside conductor Maestro Robert Vodnoy in 1999. Dybel established the Summer with the Symphony concerts in 1994 and believes that the program has had a significant positive impact on the Whiting community…. Dybel said, ‘the Summer with the Symphony series has definitely elevated the level of culture in an area that is relatively deprived of it. Attending our concerts has become a tradition that spans generations. The concerts are open to anyone and there’s no charge. We want to enhance the community and give community members the chance to engage with one another in a meaningful way.’… Summer with the Symphony draws attendees from Northwest Indiana, Chicagoland, and even Michigan.”