Dearborn Symphony Pops Conductor Rich Ridenour will lead the orchestra in its annual pops concert at 8 p.m. Friday at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.
Ridenour and the orchestra will celebrate the many people — composers and others — who raised themselves from poverty and ill fate.
Dearborn Symphony Music Director Kypros Markou will be guest soloist on violin, performing the “Orange Blossom Special,” “Theme from Schindler’s List” and “Czardas.” Markou also will lead the orchestra in the finale of “Concerto in F” as Ridenour performs this American classic featured in “American in Paris.” He also will perform rags from Scott Joplin and Billy Joel as well as marches from Strauss, Elgar and Sousa.
Vocalist Kathy Wagner returns to Dearborn to sing favorites from the American songbook including Irving Berlin’s “I Love A Piano.”
Ridenour has been described by the Grand Rapids Press as “an act that’s as masterfully musical as it is wickedly funny … a Victor Borge waiting in the wings.” The Idaho State Journal called Ridenour “an approachable artist with remarkable technical skills whose passion seems to make the concert experience one of sheer delight — a combination that’s not easy to find. Ridenour held his huge audience in the palm of his talented hands.”
Tickets range from $10 to $30 and are available by calling the Dearborn Symphony office at (313) 565-2424 or at the Ford Center box office, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn.
The symphony has partnered with the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign for a special offer featuring a pre-concert reception with hors d’oeuvres and cash bar at 6 p.m. on the mezzanine, and a presentation by a cardiologist at 7 p.m. In spirit of the cause and the day itself being National Wear Red Day, wearing red is encouraged, Dearborn Symphony President Sandy Butler said.
Combined reception and concert tickets are $38.50, with a portion of the proceeds going to Go Red for Women. Reception tickets are $17.50 for concert goers already holding concert tickets.
The Dearborn Symphony also offers its Dinner and a Concert discount where concert goers receive 20 to 25 percent off their bill before the concert. Participating restaurants are: Andiamo Dearborn, Crave, La Pita, The Dearborn Inn, Kiernan’s & Silky’s, Ollie’s, and The Henry.
For more information on the concert, go to www.dearbornsymphony.org. For more information about National Wear Red Day, go to www.goredforwomen.org/wearredday.