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Mark your calendar May 20, 2008!

By Petra Norris

Managing Real Estate Broker with Lakeland Real Estate Group, Inc. BK646565

May 08, 2008 01:53 AM

The Harrison Symphony Orchestra and Harrison Singers present "The Testament of Freedom" by Randall Thompson, as a tribute to our troops serving abroad. The Harrison Music Department concert will take place Tuesday, May 20, 2008, on the main stage of the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices per adult is $7.00 and per senior/student is $5.00. You may purchase tickets online through the Harrison School for the Arts web site. The box office is open the day of the performance at 6:00 p.m.

Mark you calendar - this concert is one of my favorite concerts of the year, which closes out the school year and always brings out the best. Folks from all over Polk County come to hear these young artists perform. The review of past concert goers is astonishing and they are always in ahh. Just recently, I attended the Young People's Concert in Winter Haven where The Harrison Symphony Orchestra performed. The lady sitting next to me was so moved by their performance, she literally expressed herself by simply shouting "BRAVO".

Randall Thompson composed "The Testament of Freedom" in remembrance of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson and based the texts on the writings of Mr. Jefferson.

Violin Winners of the Harrison Concerto Competition, Peter Carrerou, Robert Fleitz, and Elizabeth Young, will be featured during the May 20 Harrison Symphony performance. In addition, the Harrison Symphony Orchestra will be performing music by Shostakovich, Alexander Borodin's Symphony No. 2 - 1. Allegro, and Peter Tchaikovsky's Cossack Dance from Mazeppa.

On a side note, I would like to mention that the Harrison Singers received an invitation based on the personal recommendation of Dr. André Thomas, professor of music at The Florida State University and artist director of the National Memorial Day Choral Festival to participate in the inaugural National Memorial Day Choral Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, May 25^th 2008 in Washington D.C. The Festival concert marks the 225th Anniversary of the end of the American Revolution and is designed to honor the men and women who have served, and died, to preserve our liberty and freedom.

The Honorable, Adam Putnam, United States House of Representatives Congressional District 12 of Bartow, will meet with the students Thursday afternoon for a tour of the Capitol building and a visit to the Senate and House. The Harrison Singers will present 100 DVD's of the May 20 concert for distribution to our men and women serving in the armed forces abroad through Putnam's office.

The Television Production Department of the Lakeland High School Career Academy of Art, Design & Technology, in conjunction with Vista Audio, is producing the DVD.

In addition to participating in the concert, the choir will tour Arlington National Cemetery and participate in a special wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on May 23rd at 1:15 p.m. Other activities will include: tours of The Library of Congress, Supreme Court Building, and an evening walking tour of the Lincoln, Korean, World War II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Vietnam Memorials.