Fireworks & B.B. King Will Both Return—

Moody Blues, Jethro Tull And Natalie Merchant Will All Be At Ives Center This Summer

DANBURY – The Charles Ives Center will feature seven major concerts this summer, sponsored by Audi, all to be presented at Ives Concert Park at WCSU. The season will open with the return of the center’s Fourth of July Fireworks, this year featuring Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra under its conductor, Sidney Rothstein.

Making their Ives Center debuts this summer will be Natalie Merchant (July 8), The Moody Blues (July 15) and Jethro Tull (July 29).

Returning to the Ives are “The Motown Concert,” with The Temptations, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, and The Marvelettes, on August 11), and Smokey Robinson (August 25). The 5-hour B.B. King Blues Festival will be primed by the guitars of B.B. King, Buddy Guy and other bands on Labor Day Monday, September 4.

“If ever a roster warranted the billing, ‘by popular demand,’ this is it,” Charles Ives Center for the Arts chairman Michael Osborne said recently. “We are particularly excited to capture such legendary names as The Moody Blues and Jethro Tull after years of effort.”

The season-opening July 4 concert by Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra will offer a program featuring a wide selection of American composers, including the music center’s namesake, Charles Ives. Noted tenor Frank Tenaglia will perform with RSO on Puccini’s Nessun Dorma and Danbury Mayor Gene F. Eriquez will narrate Copeland’s The Lincoln Portrait.  Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture will climax a spectacular fireworks display by Atlas PyroVision of New Jersey.

Ives Concert Park can host an audience of 5,000 people, with 1,700 reserved seats and another 3,300 spaces available on the lawn area. The center’s Gold Circle comprises the first 12 rows of the seating area, center stage, a total of 500 seats. Discounts are available for seniors, students and groups; contact the center’s box office for details.

The full schedule of dates and ticket prices for Summer 2000 at Ives Concert Park, is as follows:

Tuesday, July 4, at 7 pm, The Fourth of July Fireworks Concert featuring Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra under Sidney, all reserved seats are $35, lawn seats are $25 for adults, $10 for children;

Saturday, July 8, at 8 pm, Natalie Merchant with special guests Wilco and Carrie opening, Gold Circle seats are $50, other reserved seats are $35, and lawn seats are $25 for adults, $10 for children;

Saturday, July 15, at 8 pm, The Moody Blues, with The Peter Spink Group opening, Gold Circle seats are $60, remaining seats are $40, lawn seating for adults is $25, $10 for children;

Saturday, July 29, at 8 pm, Jethro Tull, with XRC opening, Gold Circle seats are $50, other reserved seats are $35, lawn tickets for adults are $25, and lawn tickets for children are $10;

Friday, August 11, 7.30 pm, The Temptations, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, The Marvelettes, and The Sentinels, Gold Circle seats are $50, remaining reserved seats are $35, lawn tickets are $25 adults, $10 for children;

Friday, August 25, 7:30 pm, Smokey Robinson, with Kevin Briody opening, Gold Circle seats are $50 each, remaining reserved seats are $35, and lawn tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for children;

Labor Day Monday, September 4, beginning at 4 pm, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, James Montgomery & The New England Blues All-Stars, and The Blue in the Face Duo, Gold Circle tickets are $60, remaining reserved seats are $40, lawn seats are $25 for adults, and $10 for children.

The Ives box office will commence ticket sales to the public beginning on Sunday, May 7, at 9 am; call 837-9226. Tickets for all shows will also be available from TicketMaster, which can be reached directly at 744-8100 or any TicketMaster outlet.

Ives Concert Park is on Western Connecticut State University’ westside campus, on University Boulevard (off Mill Plain Road, directly opposite Super Stop & Shop). Parking is included in all ticket prices and available on-site or at seven satellite lots with shuttle connections. Shuttle bus routes are available through Ives Center’s box office.