MONTEREY COUNTY POPS! – LIVE!! FREE!! Devendorf Park, Carmel – July 4, 2024
Music, Celebration, Community, Harmony
Monterey County Pops! invites you to celebrate July 4, 2024, with their free public concert of pops and patriotic music on the lawn in Carmel-by-the-Sea’s beautiful Devendorf Park – thanks to the support of The City of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
“The 4th of July Monterey County Pops! concert is the best way to spend the day with friends and family. Come on down!” - Council member Karen Ferlito.
In cooperation with the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, this festive day begins with an open rehearsal by the orchestra from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The program formally begins with Monterey Peninsula Gospel Community Choir -- under the direction of founder and renown conductor John L. Nash, Jr. – with a dynamic performance at 1:00 pm to 1:45 p.m.
“Watching everyone get there early to stake out their spot always amazes me. These people are there to enjoy everything about the day!” - Leslie Fenton, Executive Assistant, City of Carmel.
Steve DeCarli, President of Monterey County Pops! will welcome the public to the fourth annual July 4 performance at Devendorf Park, Carmel, at 2:00 p.m. The program will open with the National Anthem and the Armed Forces Salute which honors each branch of the US Armed Forces by inviting veterans and active-duty members to stand and be recognized during the playing of their theme song.
Judge Stephanie Hulsey, soprano, will sing The Star-Spangled Banner, America (My Country 'Tis of Thee), America the Beautiful, and God Bless America.
Hon. Stephanie Hulsey didn’t expect to become a judge when she was growing up. Rather, the Central Coast native trained to be an opera singer and followed that dream to the Manhattan School of Music. After earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music, she spent the next decade performing classical music and musical theater professionally on the East Coast.
Her life took a turn, as so many lives do, when her father was diagnosed with cancer. Hulsey returned to California to spend time with her family, though she fully expected to go back to New York. Then she met her husband and decided to remain out west. “It’s the most geographically beautiful place, but it’s not the performing arts capital of the world,” she said. “It became clear I needed more education.”
Hulsey enrolled in the JD program at Monterey College of Law and graduated in 1998. She was then hired by the DA’s office and over the years worked her way up the ranks to the position of assistant district attorney. When a judicial seat opened in 2014, Hulsey submitted her name and was elected.
Hosted and conducted by award-winning Music Director Dr. Carl Christensen, this very special concert will include four new selections acquired for Monterey County Pops! for this special occasion: “America the Beautiful” arranged by Carmen Dragon, one of the most dramatic settings of this patriotic standard ever written, “An American Fanfare” by Rick Kirby, which takes the normally hymn-like strains of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and incorporates them into a fast an energetic fanfare, “American Flourish” by Robert W. Smith, based on “Yankee Doodle”, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”, and “Shenandoah, and “To Honor America” arranged by James Swearingen to pay tribute to all the members of our armed services. Marches by John Philip Sousa, and the “Poet and Peasant Overture” by Von Suppé will also be included.
The Monterey County Pops! mission is to connect, engage, and inspire by bringing our professional orchestra to perform free pops and patriotic music and educational programs, including under-served youth, to all of Monterey County in collaboration with civic leaders, cultural groups, schools, and community partners.
To learn more or to make a donation, visit www.montereycountypops.org
