Music in the Great Outdoors

Dust off the picnic hamper, and oil the corkscrew. It’s summertime and the livingis easy, and the music is outdoors. Southern California may not have invented the pops concert, but with nearly a century of practice now, it has brought its own regional model ever closer to perfection.

Like most classics, the basic summer pops recipe is simple but capable of endless variation. Take popular classics liberally seasoned with Americana spices, mix with party foods, and marinate in an attractive setting under the stars.

Initial work on the concept began more than 80 years ago up in Bolton Canyon, although that wild site is barely recognizable under what has become the Hollywood Bowl. The Bowl does honor its past, however, and opens its proceedings this year June 29 with its second annual hall of fame gala, inducting Marilyn Horne, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, John Raitt and Monty Python.

That concert, and most of the weekend pops programs, is entrusted to John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, who turn the following evening to a sing-along “Sound of Music.” Broadway is a big part of any pops season here, and on Aug. 5, Mauceri & Co. also offer “Show Boat.” Movie music is also an essential ingredient, and on the final weekend of the season, Mauceri and the Bowl Orchestra present scores from famous sci-fi films, accompanying clips on the Bowl’s big screen.

An important force in the early history of the Hollywood Bowl was the Hollywood Community Sing, founded in 1917 on the patriotic fervor of the U.S. entry into World War I. Similar forces were at work in the establishment of the Redlands Bowl in 1924, and there the experience endures, with each Tuesday concert still preceded by a community sing. It begins this summer on June 26, with the winners of the 50th annual Young Artists Auditions.

Programs in the 6,000-seat amphitheater are free and held every Tuesday and Friday. Frank Fetta conducts the Summer Festival Orchestra, starting June 29 with a “2001 Pops Odyssey,” and ending Aug. 24 with a “Fantasy Finale.” The musical “Meet Me in St. Louis” is scheduled for July 27-28.

A connection with that bucolic Bolton Canyon setting can be made with Symphony in the Glen, which presents its free programs on Sunday afternoons in the vicinity of the old zoo and the carousel in L.A.’s Griffith Park. Director Arthur Rubinstein opens June 3 with an “American Canvas” slate, which includes the premiere of his three-movement suite depicting the evolution of Los Angeles, with its title to come from audience members in a name-that-piece contest. The soloist, in Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” is Willem Wijnbergen, the controversial former managing director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Educational activities are a part of most of these summer programs, and Symphony in the Glen offers particularly kid-friendly activities and environment. Its other concerts are Sept. 9--National Grandparents’ Day--and Oct. 7.

Other eminently attractive natural settings that have become homes to summer pops series are Descanso Gardens and the Arboretum of Los Angeles County.

The Pasadena Pops Orchestra actually launches its season with a free program June 2 on the plaza at Pasadena City Hall, before moving on to Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, for four weekend pairs and a special family festival on Aug. 4.

The first of the weekend programs comes June 29-30 and features scenes from Gershwin’s “Porgy & Bess.” The finale is Sept. 14-15, with Rachel Worby conducting classical pops.

Festival on the Green, presented by Victor Venner and the California Philharmonic, occupies the Arboretum in Arcadia, beginning June 30 with an Americana concert. Other events include a “Fiesta Mexicana” July 28 with mariachis and dancers and a Broadway agenda Aug. 11. The series ends Sept. 22 with a Russian program and that unlikely but practically inevitable staple of outdoor pops, Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture.

That piece also caps the “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” that closes the Pacific Symphony’s season at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine on Sept. 8. Fireworks and festive music go together at least as far back as the premiere of Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks” in 1749, but pyrotechnics took hold on the Southern California pops scene only in the late 1960s.

Now fireworks are an almost obligatory addition to works such as the “1812” Overture, and Pacific Symphony has taken on the obligation eagerly. Of course, just about everybody includes fireworks with Independence Day celebrations, and Pacific Symphony offers a characteristic example, opening its season July 4 with a tribute to swing that closes with Sousa and fireworks.

Multimedia extras--particularly film clips--have become a popular garnish to the classic pops recipe recently. Pacific Symphony imaginatively adds NASA footage to its performance of Holst’s “Planets” on Aug. 11. Other highlights of the Pacific summer include the first West Coast performances by the gold, silver and bronze medalists of the Cliburn Competition that starts this week in Texas, at the July 21, Aug. 11 and Aug. 25 concerts.

Farther south, the San Diego Symphony also features fireworks at each of its 10 concert pairs at the Navy Pier. The season there opens July 6-7 with singer James Darren in a salute to Frank Sinatra. It continues with a Broadway program and runs every weekend until Sept. 7-8 and its Tchaikovsky Finale--with, yes, the “1812,” fireworks and howitzers from the Camp Pendleton Marines.

Special events are the first stop of the YesSymphonic Tour on July 25, with the legendary band joining the orchestra in arrangements created in San Diego for this traveling show, and a classical program indoors at Copley Symphony Hall Sept. 9 with cellist Yo-Yo Ma bridging the transition to the fall season.

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Symphonies in Sylvan Settings

* Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, others, at Hollywood Bowl. June 29-Sept. 22. (323) 850-2000.

* Summer Festival Orchestra, others, at Redlands Bowl. June 29-Aug. 24. (900) 793-7316.

* Symphony in the Glen at Griffith Park. June 3-Oct. 7. (213) 955-6976.

* Pasadena Pops at Pasadena City Hall June 2; at Descanso Gardens June 29-Sept. 15. (626) 792-7677.

* California Philharmonic at Arcadia Arboretum. June 30-Sept. 22. (626) 300-8200.

* Pacific Symphony at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. July 4-Sept. 8. (714) 755-5799.

* San Diego Symphony at Navy Pier, July 6-Sept. 8; at Copley Symphony Hall Sept. 9. (619) 235-0804.