Popular music will waft across the Palos...

Popular music will waft across the Palos Verdes Peninsula this afternoon during an outdoor concert by the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra.

Concert-goers are invited to bring picnic baskets, tablecloths and blankets. They will gather on the grounds at Green Hills Memorial Park for Picnic ‘n Pops, featuring favorites by such composers as Gershwin and Mancini.

Open-air concerts are popular in many cities. Perhaps the most famous site is Tanglewood, the Berkshires summer home of the Boston Symphony, where Bostonians flock in cars stuffed with picnic goods.

For South Bay music lovers, today’s event on the peninsula will have special significance: It is a concert that almost didn’t happen.

The 27-year-old Peninsula Symphony was forced to cancel its popular Summerfest concert this year because of funding problems. Although membership is up, recession-wary members have been giving less.

“We’re having enthusiastic support, but the money just isn’t there,” said June Schwarzmann, community affairs vice president for the Peninsula Symphony Assn.

But in the past two months, plans came together so that the community symphony could give an outdoor concert after all. The concert is being underwritten by Green Hills Memorial Park as part of the 20th anniversary celebration for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes.

The 51-member symphony will perform under the direction of conductor Joseph A. Valenti. Conrad Wedberg will provide commentary on composers and their music.

The program will include a Duke Ellington medley for orchestra, the overture from “Fiddler on the Roof” and selections by George Gershwin and Henry Mancini.

Soloist Monica Mitchell, who has performed with the Riverside Concert Opera and the South Bay Light Opera Society, will sing Gershwin’s “Summertime,” selections from “Kismet” and “Musetta’s Waltz” from Puccini’s “La Boheme.”

“To hear music that is so accessible played by a full symphony orchestra is an astonishing experience,” Schwarzmann said.

Parents are encouraged to bring children to the two-hour program. Seating is available, and beverages and cookies will be on sale. Picnickers should leave their bottles of Chardonnay at home; the park management has asked that no alcoholic beverages be consumed on the premises.

Admission is free. The concert will begin at 3 p.m. today at Green Hills Memorial Park, 27501 S. Western Ave., Rancho Palos Verdes.