Detroit Symphony Orchestra Returns to the Ford House with a Bang

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra returns to the Ford House for a weekend of swing, Shakespeare and fireworks. 

This is the fourth year for the DSO@Ford House program, and will feature two different nights of music. 

The Golden Age of Swing will be featured Friday night as the DSO and Clarinetist Dave Bennett perform hits by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin, according to the Ford House.

Saturday night, the DSO will perform excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream and others.

Concertgoers will be able to have dinner from the Cotswold Café, or they can pack their own picnic.

Following the performances, there will be a fireworks display each night.

Advance tickets are $12 for children and $20 for adults and can be purchased at DSO.org or 313-576-5111 until 3 p.m. Friday. If available, on-site tickets will be $15 for children and $25 for adults

Challenge grant met, exceeded

For the past three years the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan has given $50,000 to the event. This year, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan issued a challenge grant. Bernadette Banko, the Ford House development director, put together a steering committee headed by Mary Schafer. The committee nearly doubled the match amount. 

"Ford House and the DSO owe a great debt of gratitude to the Committee, chaired by Mary Schafer and coordinated by Bernadette Banko, Ford House Director of Development. Mary recruited the most outstanding group of individuals who accepted the assignment of meeting the $50,000 Challenge Grant from the Community Foundation with great enthusiasm and professionalism," Kathleen Mullins, Ford House president, said in a statement. "The Committee did not only MEET the challenge, they exceeded it by raising nearly $90,000! The benefit to both Ford House and the DSO is beyond measure for all proceeds from the DSO @ Ford House performances will be dedicated to the perpetuation of music and history. Our hats are off to this outstanding group of individuals!"

Included in the attached photo are: 

From left, Patti Theros, Stuart Grigg, Kathleen Mullins (Ford House), Sheri Conway, Linda Axe, Marcia Everingham, Cathy Champion, Lisa Gandelot, Cynthia Ford, Lynn Carpenter

Seated, from left, Jennifer Rice, Julie Ahee, Bernadette Banko (Ford House) Mary Shafer (DSO Steering Committee Chair), Beverly Burns, Michelle Tiderington