JSO Summer Pops Concert Event!

All-day JSO and JCC event will make your pearly whites show!

When celebrating a 30th anniversary, pearls are the traditional gift of choice. So, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra’s plans to celebrate its 30th anniversary of Summer Pops by gifting the community with a day full of activities and a “pearl-studded” concert on July 30.

“It will be more than a concert,” says Music Director Stephen Osmond. “It will be an event! In special partnership with Jackson Community College, we have planned an entire day of entertainment leading up to the evening concert at JCC’s Potter Center Music Hall. A Dancing with the Stars party will follow with a live dance band and refreshments. We’ve enjoyed being outdoors at Ella Sharp, the Cascades and, most recently, the fair, but it will be nice to know we will be cool and dry and enjoy the great acoustics of the Potter Center. The drama of the minor tornado we experienced at the fair a couple years ago will be missed.”

This gem of a concert will include the Jackson Chorale and Clyde McKaney as special guests. The 1812 Overture, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Irving Berlin’s America and Orange Blossom Special are among musical pieces on the program.

The first scheduled event at JCC that day is a Michigan Shakespeare Festival presentation of Molière's play Tartuffe. This comical story, written by France’s most celebrated playwrights, takes place in 17th century Paris. Tartuffe, who a fraud and con man, preys on a wealthy family, convincing him he has divine authority and robbing them of everything. “Hilarious and farcical, Moliere’s 1664 comedy was an immediate audience hit and also the subject of much controversy, mirroring as it did the relationship between the church and King Louis XIV,” it says on the Michigan Shakespeare Festival website. Tartuffe (also known as The Hypocrite) is a side-splitting, ridiculous, and revered entry into the canon of Classical Comedy.”

Throughout the afternoon of the JSO’s 30th Anniversary Summer Pops, there will be art fair, featured musical groups and, at 6 p.m., a picnic dinner. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

VIP tickets in reserved seating are $15, general admission is $10, children and students with ID are $5. A picnic box dinner is available for an additional $5.

In addition to Jackson Community College, sponsors of this fantastic event are: The Enterprise Group, Jackson Citizens for Economic Growth, Culvers Restaurant of Jackson, JSO Community Engagement Fund and The Craft Agency.

Calling All Singers!

The Jackson Symphony Orchestra and Jackson Chorale Need YOU!


As part of its Summer Pops Concert July 30th at JCC, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra will be performing several works which include a chorus. Singers with some chorale experience are invited to join in the festivities. No audition required. There are three rehearsals for the concert, as follows:

7 p.m. Tuesday, July 19 - First Presbyterian Church, 743 W. Michigan Ave.

7 p.m. Tuesday, July 26 - First Presbyterian Church

7 p.m. Friday, July 29 - TBA

Concert is 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 30 at JCC


Please phone 782-3221 x 117 or email jso@acd.net and leave your name and voice range.

"It's always a lot of fun," says Stephen Osmond, Music Director of the JSO.

Photos from Golden Baton Award Night

Larry Bullen speaking with recipients Rick Davies, Mark Rosenfeld,
Mary Spring, John Cross and Carl English.

Golden Baton Program

Stephen Osmond, Pat McCleer and the Gel Caps
singing a song, lyrics by Pat McCleer.