Community treated to free concert

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, February 18, 2020

The community was treated to a musical Sunday afternoon as the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra set up shop at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in New Iberia for its annual “A Prelude to Spring” concert.

The annual concert is one of four free concerts brought to the local community each year by the Iberia Cultural Resources Association.

“You not not be aware of this, but there is only one other community in Acadiana that has the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra come and put on a concert, and that is Abbeville,” ICRA Director Cathy Indest said at the event. “They only do one concert; we do four.”

Maestro Mariusz Smolij and the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra took to the dais at St. Peter’s with more than 100 ICRA members, symphony patrons and music enthusiasts enjoying the program set out for the annual concert.

The concert was billed as a blend of familiar classical music and Broadway tunes, including a number of vocal selections featuring the orchestra.

Smolij said during the concert that the song list laid out was partly meant to evoke the Valentine’s Day holiday, with the orchestra beautifully playing songs of romance and love.

The concert included a beautiful rendition of “Ave Maria,” as well as a rendition of “O Mio Babbino Caro” from the opera Gianni Schicchi, which was sung by Andrea Mouton.

The next ICRA concert will be Symphony Sunday at the Park, which takes place at 3 p.m. on April 5 at New Iberia City Park. Organizers invite concert to picnic before the concert, and a picnic contest for best theme will be held during the event.

The Stars and Stripes concert is slated to take place June 28, and the Sounds of the Season concert will take place Nov. 29.