Philly Pops Holds Final Runthroughs For Free Friday Evening Concert
By Marcy Norton
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As part the "Wawa Welcome America" celebration, the Philly Pops is playing a free, public concert tonight in front of Independence Hall.
Practice makes perfect for any musician, but the Philly Pops already sounded pretty good, rehearsing today in the Kimmel Center ahead of their Independence Mall performance.
Music director Michael Krajewski has conducted Fourth of July concerts in many other cities with other orchestras. "But for me," he said today, "this is a real thrill to be doing it here in Philadelphia and doing it with one of the greatest orchestras in the country, the Philly Pops."
Krajewski says the program will include some of the great American patriotic songs such as "God Bless America" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", a salute to the US Armed Forces, and, he says, maybe a few surprises.