Things I did not bring to “Sonidos Latinos” but should have: sunblock, a small cooler full of ice, a beach chair, a blanket, a broad-brimmed sun hat, insect repellent, a battery-powered portable fan, trash and recycling bags, a bottle of wine, a poncho, and a picnic lunch packed at home or ordered ahead from Reid’s Fine Foods and carried across the parking lot.
Things I did bring to the opening of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s (CSO) 2024 Summer Pops season: a small umbrella and a pair of open ears. The former kept me dry when the predicted rain finally descended. The latter gave me lots of pleasure, until lightning came within 10 miles of Symphony Park Sunday night. Then symphony president and CEO David Fisk evacuated the area and cancelled the gig midway through. (Audience members can exchange tickets for a future CSO performance.)
I say “midway through.” But those of us who arrived more than three hours earlier, as I did, had already had a pretty full experience.
I got there before 5:30 p.m., when I could still park within a few feet of the entrance gate in the lot behind Dick’s Sporting Goods. Symphony Park sits adjacent to SouthPark Mall, and you’ll want to be near your car in case you have to bolt in bad weather.
That gave me plenty of time to visit the Charlotte Art Mobile. Rosalia Torres-Weiner, who painted the exterior of the CSO Roadshow’s mobile stage, has her own portable setting: a trailer she runs out of her Red Calaca studio and fills with small works of art by local veterans and newcomers, from jewelry to watercolors to mixed media.
I also had plenty of time to eat. That meant a $4 pre-packaged ice cream bar from The Social Cow and a $16 quesadilla (no sides!) from Tacos El Thor. When I asked why the menu said $8 for the quesadilla, I was told, “This is a special event. At special events we double our prices. We didn’t have time to make a sign.” Say what?
That was the only part of the evening that left a bad taste. The crowd was genial, polite, sober, nonsmoking except away from the main lawn and respectful of other people’s spaces, if not their sight lines. Many folks sat in full-sized chairs, and the lawn rolling down to the stage doesn’t have much of a slope. Astonishingly, cellphone use seemed less common than it does at symphony concerts inside Belk Theater.
Single-ticket buyers get the back half of the lawn; subscribers to the four-concert season get the front, which has been divided into “pods” of 6 by 6 feet and laid out in rows similar to those at the Belk. The extra expense buys you a better view, assuming someone doesn’t plop a tall chair or a shade umbrella in front of you, but it doesn’t mean better sound. The amplification from two speaker towers alongside the stage reaches everywhere equally well.
In fact, freeloaders around the DoubleTree Suites hotel (where the musicians get ready), in pocket parks dotted around the main seating area, or even across Carnegie Boulevard on the sprawling lawn of Coca-Cola get an earful.
Most of what they heard Sunday came from the opening act, UltimaNota. This Charlotte-based septet also opened for the orchestra in April at the debut of CSO Roadshow, so I was familiar with their laid-back groove, reminiscent to me of early Santana. What they’ll sound like in future remains to be heard, as sax player Oscar Huerta is departing.
They were introduced by Hector Cortes, the middle school teacher dubbed Sombrero Man because he whips up Charlotte FC soccer crowds in that headgear. He had a tougher job as emcee Sunday: Even reasonably supportive applause diffuses across the wide lawn and sounds like modest enthusiasm.
The CSO takes half an hour to get ready after the opening act departs, which made concertgoers justly nervous as clouds crept closer. Resident conductor Christopher James Lees had just enough time to introduce the orchestra in Spanish and English and swing through two numbers, before Nature and Fisk put the kibosh on the rest. Those two, Arturo Marquez’ “Conga del Fuego Nuevo” and Roberto Sierra’s “Fandangos,” had a rhythmic snap the musicians haven’t always shown in their indoor pops concerts.
The mini-season still has three shows to go: “A Juneteenth Celebration” on June 16, “Music From the Movies” on June 23; and “Celebrate America” on June 30, followed by a fireworks finale. Kids under 13 get in free with adults, though they’ll have to reserve tickets. If you’re wondering how to introduce a youngster to classical music, here’s your chance.
Pictured: Summer Pops at Symphony Park; courtesy Charlotte Symphony.