The Orange County Great Park, in association with Irvine Barclay Theatre, launches the fifth annual Flights & Sounds Summer Festival on Thursday, August 2 with an unforgettable up-tempo Latin Music Weekend featuring east LA rock, a Salsa dance party and Grammy Award-winning Latin jazz.
The Latin Music Weekend kicks off the five-week Flights & Sounds Summer Festival, which offers music lovers of all ages a musical tour around the world, set in three unique venues at the Great Park.
Visitors can get an early start to this exciting weekend on Thursday, August 2 when Chicano-folk rock meets pan-Latin rhythms with La Santa Cecilia performing in the Palm Court Arts Complex.
La Santa Cecilia is a Los Angeles-based six-member band that creatively combines up-tempo South American rhythms like Cumbia and Bossa Nova with the nostalgic Bolero and passionate Tango, blending in Afro-Cuban percussion, rock and jazz to bring about a mix that defies any particular musical genre.
On Friday, August 3, swing your hips at a sensational salsa dance party featuring La Sirena y Orquesta Mar de Ashe on the Dance Concourse. This 12-piece orchestra led by vocalist La Sirena and trombone virtuoso Mike Daigeau, presents a delicious, eclectic variety of danceable Salsa, Latin Jazz, Son, Cumbia, Cha Cha, Bachata, Merengue and Bolero. Come early at 7:45 p.m. to get salsa dance instruction from Atomic Ballroom.
The Latin Music Weekend culminates on the evening of Saturday, August 4 on the Runway Stage with headliner and Grammy Award-winning Latin jazz bandleader Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band, stirring up a fiery stew of jazz, gritty soul music and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources for more than three decades.
Poncho Sanchez will be joined on stage by trumpeter Christian Scott and together they will perform Cubano Be Cubano Bop, a program celebrating the Latin jazz collaboration of Bebop legend Dizzy Gillespie and Cuban conguero Chano Pozo.
"The annual Flights & Sounds Summer Festival is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to enjoy world-class music under the stars," said Beth Krom, Chair, Orange County Great Park Corporation. "This will be our most exciting summer yet, with five world-themed weekends that will take visitors on a musical tour around the globe with dancers and musicians from North America, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the British Isles."
About the Orange County Great Park :
Hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over Southern California enjoy the Orange County Great Park's current array of recreational and educational opportunities, including views from the iconic Great Park Balloon that rises 400 feet in the air and provides a panoramic view of Orange County. Other Great Park features include the Carousel, Farm + Food Lab, Kids Rock Playground, Walkable Historical Timeline, Palm Court Arts Complex, North Lawn recreation area and historic Hangar 244.
The Great Park also hosts a variety of special events that provide unique experiences for the entire family, including the Growing the Park Anniversary Celebration, annual Pumpkin Harvest, Great Night! Family New Year's Eve, Flights & Sounds Summer Festival and the weekly Great Park Farmers Market. The Great Park, with its approximately 1,300-acre master plan, is the centerpiece of the redevelopment of the publicly-owned portion of the 4,700-acre former Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro.
(Press Release)
© 2015 PR Newswire All rights reserved.
