Philadelphia Orchestra will play an on-field gig at NovaCare — and, separately, with Ben Folds
The NovaCare concert is sensory-friendly, and free. The Folds appearance is a fund-raiser for orchestra education programs.
The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform a benefit in the spring with singer-songwriter Ben Folds at Verizon Hall as well as a sensory-friendly concert on the field of the Philadelphia Eagles NovaCare Complex, both as part of the orchestra’s ongoing education and outreach programs.
The two March concerts were announced Wednesday in a lineup that also includes a series of chamber music concerts across the area.
Folds and the orchestra have performed together before — in 2014, at the Mann Center — and though the exact repertoire for the March 22 concert hasn’t been finalized, it will include orchestral arrangement of Folds’ songs, solo performances, and orchestra-only works. Proceeds will benefit the orchestra’s education programs.
The March 23 concert at the NovaCare Complex is to include core orchestral pieces by Verdi, Offenbach, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and others, as well as “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
The chamber music concerts, which run from Feb. 10 to June 9, are scheduled at St. Thomas Aquinas School in South Philadelphia, Esperanza Academy in North Philadelphia, St. Francis de Sales church in West Philadelphia, Historic Strawberry Mansion in North Philadelphia, and Penn Treaty Park in Fishtown.
All the events are free — except the benefit concert with Folds — and reservations can be made at www.philorch.org.