Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

July 17, 2008 issue

Symphony on the Lawn at Chetola July 25

Concert Features Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra

Story by Anna Oakes

Bring your picnic baskets, blankets and lawn chairs to the 21st annual Symphony on the Lawn at Chetola Resort on Friday, July 25.One of Blowing Rock’s signature events is the Symphony on the Lawn, an evening of picnics, orchestral performance and fireworks at Chetola Lake, taking place Friday, July 25.

The 21st annual Symphony at Chetola begins at 5:30 p.m., when the gates at Chetola Resort open for picnicking by the lake. Concertgoers can bring their own picnic baskets or enjoy a picnic or dinner buffet prepared by The Manor House Restaurant at Chetola. Alcoholic beverages are permitted. The picnic buffet, priced at $18 for adults and $9 for kids, includes hot sandwich plates, hamburgers and veggie burgers, hot dogs, a po-boy wrap, grilled chicken, salads and iced tea.

The Symphony Prix Fixe Dinner offers a menu of salads, appetizers, entrees and desserts prepared by the Manor House Restaurant. The $95 dinner price includes admission to the symphony concert and lakefront patio seating. Dining room seating costs $60 per person. Reservations are required for the dinner.

The concert, featuring the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra, begins at 7:30 p.m. The orchestra will perform a selection of favorites that celebrate Americana. Beginning with “The Star Spangled Banner” and ending with the “Washington Post March,” the program will also feature selections from Disney classics, West Side Story, “America the Beautiful” and a salute to the Big Apple. Led by Maestro Albert Moehring, a native of Amsterdam, Holland, the Charlotte Philharmonic is a professional 70-piece orchestra.

Moehring trained at the respected Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada. He pursued further studies at the Aspen School of Music in Colorado. In the past years, Moehring has worked and studied with such renowned conductors as Walter Susskind, Leonard Bernstein and Leonard Slatkin. This is the Charlotte Philharmonic’s first time at Symphony on the Lawn.

A fireworks display will follow the music.

Around 1,600 tickets are available to the event that sold out in 2007. Attendees can bring chairs and/or blankets, but no umbrellas are allowed. A parking shuttle will run from the Food Lion shopping center parking lot.

Tickets for the concert are $25 for adults and $8 for children under 12. Tickets are available at www.blowingrock.com or by calling the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce office at 828-295-7851. Chetola Resort is located at 185 Chetola Lake Drive (just off of North Main Street) in Blowing Rock.

The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce needs volunteers to help direct concertgoers to shuttles, collect tickets and perform other jobs. If interested, call 828-295-7851.

Want To Go?
Date: Friday, July 25
Time: 5:30 p.m. picnic/7:30 p.m. concert
Location: Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock
Cost: $25 adults/$8 kids under 12