Strike up the band

Bethel Woods debut is a night to remember

By FRITZ MAYER

BETHEL, NY — Alan Gerry received a rock star’s welcome from the 17,000 fans who turned out for the premier event at the new $70 million Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on Saturday, July 1. Gerry introduced the New York Philharmonic as the “world’s greatest orchestra,” and the orchestra began the very first song played in performance at the facility, George Gershwin’s “Strike up the Band.”

Members of the audience, which was made up of young and old, singles and families, agreed that the sound system was excellent. Legislator Leni Binder was one of the 12,000 people sitting on the lawn. From her seat, a few feet away from the amphitheater, she said, “They say this is the best sound in the country. I believe it. It’s beautiful.” Other notables in the audience included Congressman Maurice Hinchey and county legislators Chris Cunningham, Ron Hiatt and Sam Wohl.

The crowd was in a relaxed summer mood, and people moved frequently between their seats, the concessionaires and around the sculpted grounds. Jane Neufeld of Liberty said she came because it was “an historic event.” She said she tried to get to the original Woodstock Festival at the site in 1969, but never made it because of the traffic. This time, she made it.

Mark McLewin of Bethel said, “How could you not come? So many things have been promised in here in Sullivan County, and this is something that actually worked.”

The conductor, Bramwell Trovey, initiated a good-natured dialogue with the audience, which he kept up between songs. He persuaded the audience, without too much prodding, to perform a “Mexican Wave,” first on the lawn seats, then in the amphitheater seats.

The performance was enhanced with large video screens on either side of the stage, which frequently changed images, switching from close ups of fingers on harp strings, a tight shot of soloist Audra McDonald belting out an Ira Gershwin lyric, and then to individual musicians and their instruments.

The program included such outdoor summer favorites as the “Polovtsian Dances” from Alexander Borodin’s “Prince Igor,” and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” complete with booming cannons sounding in time with the music. One of the biggest crowd-pleasers was an orchestral rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” which had some audience members on the lawn on their feet and dancing with the music.

The evening was capped off with a stunning, crowd-pleasing display of fireworks put on by the famed Grucci company.