Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra celebrates Fourth of July with ‘America Strong’ concert

The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) is presenting the “America Strong” concert this Fourth of July at Dickies Arena — its first concert in more than three months.

But because of the pandemic, this concert is expected to look quite different.

“We’re going to have the singers physically separate from the conductor, the dancers in a different part of Dickies away from the rest of the orchestra, plastic shields around the woodwinds and brass players to control the airflow. Conductor conducting in a mask,” said Keith Cerny, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. “So, we worked very closely with local and national unions to come up with a safety plan.”

There also isn’t going to be an audience at this concert, so no need to worry about buying any tickets. Instead, people can catch the hour-long performance on WFAA-TV/Channel 8, at 9 p.m. on July 4.

A recording of the concert will be available on FWSO’s website for two weeks following the event.

The America Strong concert is going to feature guest artists from the Fort Worth Opera, The Cliburn and Texas Ballet Theater and a special appearance by Broadway star and Fort Worth native, Major Attaway.

The performance will feature works by Black composers, including William Christopher (W.C.) Handy, Scott Joplin and James Weldon Johnson, according to a news release.

The Symphony Orchestra and its guest artists have all been rehearsing at Dickies Arena and will eventually be recorded by a camera crew for the performance that will be shown on WFAA-TV.

Kyle Sherman, principal trumpet of the orchestra, says that adjusting to this new normal has been a “surreal” experience for all the performers.

“We’ve all been keeping in shape individually, but we set up (Friday) morning for a short rehearsal and the tables were several feet apart from each other. We’re all required to wear masks at all times,” Sherman said. “It’s weird because normally, if you haven’t seen your colleagues in a while, you shake their hand. You give them a hug. So, it’s been kind of a strange, surreal experience because we’re not able to do any of that.”

Sherman says that despite the challenges of rehearsing and performing while social distancing, that the final recording will nonetheless “sound great.”

“We’re really lucky to have our music director, Miguel Harth-Bedoya. He’s fantastic and he’s been making this as easy as it can possibly be. I think it’s gonna sound great, but it’s definitely been challenging,” Sherman said.

America Strong will be Harth-Beyoda’s final concert with the FWSO, concluding a 20-year run as music director.

The concert came with a price tag of about $85,000, but the Symphony Orchestra successfully raised more than $100,000 to put it together, Cerny said.

By now, the Symphony Orchestra would’ve been celebrating the 30th anniversary of its “Concerts in the Garden” festival at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens but the event was canceled in May because of COVID-19.

“I had to recommend to the board that we cancel Concerts in the Garden, which everybody was very disappointed about, so I talked to the board about the idea of doing a patriotic July 4 concert, and here we are,” Cerny said. “It took a lot to put together.”

Even though all the live shows for this summer are canceled, FWSO still managed to neither lay off nor furlough any of its 100 employees, which includes performers and staff members.

FWSO has managed to stay afloat in part because it secured a loan of more than $1.5 million back in May through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which is now a 100% forgivable loan. It has also received support from individual donors and corporate donors like Wells Fargo, BNSF Railway, and Frank Kent Cadillac.

“Even some of our ticket buyers when we had to cancel concerts for the spring, rather than requesting refunds, they donated that money to help keep us going,” Cerny said. “So, truly the combination of the PPP program, these amazing donors, our very talented development staff, and strong board leadership, have all kept us in strong fiscal shape.”

Although live concerts aren’t happening any time soon, the Symphony Orchestra has kept and will keep all of its performers engaged with the community through “The Music Lab,” an online platform on the organization’s website that puts out content on a regular basis.