CALENDAR: Charleston Symphony to present Friday concert for equality

Ranky Tanky.  Photo provided.  By Peter Frank Edwards.

Staff reports  |  The Charleston Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Friday will live-stream a special program, “Call and Response: A Concert for Equality,” to promote community unity and understanding.

“What an orchestra does best is listen, and real listening only happens when we allow the voices of others to briefly be more prominent than our own,” said assistant CSO conductor Kellen Gray in a statement. “Our community has many voices that deserve the stage and this program addresses that directly, by giving stage to voices muted by inequality, those that empathize and want to help, and those who see how inequality has wounded our community.”

Due to the pandemic, the program will be performed in an empty hall at the Gailliard Center.  You can watch it via the symphony’s website:  CharlestonSymphony.org.

The concert will feature music of African American and Afro-British composers interspersed with three testimonials. Guest speakers include Grammy Award-winner Charlton Singleton, CSO Composer in Residence and Charleston native Edward Hart, and Coastal Community Foundation President and CEO Darrin Goss Sr. The performance will include orchestral works by William Grant Still, George Walker, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Adolphus Hailstork. The program will conclude with a special performance from Charleston’s own Ranky Tanky. More info.

Also on the calendar:  

Safe Sounds at Firefly.  You can enjoy these shows at a socially-distanced concert series every Friday and Saturday night through mid-July:

• June 19 & June 20 – Whiskey Run and Lauren Hall
• June 26 & June 27 – The Majestics
• July 3 – The Midnight City Band. (No Safe Sounds concert on July 4.)
• July 10 & July 11 – The Yacht Club
• July 17 & July 18 – The Reckoning
• July 24 & July 25 – TBA with special guest

Tickets for the events are limited to 500 and no more than four tickets can be purchased at a time. Each set of four tickets will secure a spot in a 10-by-10 square, separated on all sides by 8 feet. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs to enjoy the concert.  You are not allowed to bring dogs, children, and outside food and drink. Tickets are available now to anyone 21 and over at citypapertickets.com. Shows will begin at 7 p.m., with doors at 6 p.m.

Aquarium to open new experience on July 4.  “Monsters” is a new experience offered starting July 4 at the S.C. Aquarium.  “From micro to mega, explore the Aquarium in a whole new way,” according to promotional material.  You can also participate online in the attraction’s daily Nature Challenge, a virtual “Passport to Fun” and a “Moment of Zen” that has started.  The aquarium also offers daily education classes at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday to Friday, via its virtual network.  Learn more.

Online offerings.  Spoleto at Home offers virtual programming through June 5 that you can enjoy from the comfort and safety of your own living room! Tune in for original concerts, best-of Chamber Music hits, and insightful conversations with Festival artists. All programs are free to experience; no tickets required.  Click here to find more fun stuff to do. 

• Gibbes Museum.  You can enjoy lots of local art offerings through the website and social media accounts of the Gibbes Museum. At 10 a.m. on weekdays, the museum posts virtual readings and workshops on Facebook. Find more online.
• Avian Conservation Center.  Access videos and live streaming presentations online to learn about what’s going on at the Center for Birds of Prey. 
• More.  You can visit 500 museums across the world online through this Google amalgamation of sites.  

If you have any online events, drop us a line (editor@charlestoncurrents.com) and make sure to put “Online event” in the subject line.  Similarly, if you’ve got cool ideas for stuff to do while in isolation at home, send them our way.