With the hustle and bustle of the NFL Draft looming in Pittsburgh and daily clouds of trepidatious news seemingly always floating on the horizon, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is set to remind patrons to slow down and at least try to appreciate that life is a beach.
During “Tropical Rock” performances slated Friday through Sunday at Downtown’s Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh’s full 50-piece symphony will sail on warmer tides with sun-soaked hits giving off the margarita-sipping vibes of Jimmy Buffett, the inspired island tones of Bob Marley, the so-called “yacht rock” of Van Morrison, the early surf swell of The Beach Boys and the beach-bum country of Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band.
They’ll take on songs like “Under the Boardwalk,” “Fins,” “Kokomo,” “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere,” “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Chicken Fried” with the aid of nationally touring musicians including Travis Birch — who has opened for Chesney, Merle Haggard and Martina McBride — and national Broadway tour veteran vocalists like Max Chernin and Shaleah Adkisson to name a few.
For the Sarasota, Fla., native and classically trained baritone pop-music singer Chris Blem, an Orlando resident who has traveled the world on his voice, the endeavor offers the chance to blend a spiritual homecoming with the opportunity to open ears of all varieties.
“This is the soundscape of our lives. Nothing is more Florida-Americana than sitting out on a dock and eating a grouper sandwich and listening to some Jimmy Buffett,” he recalled recently telling a fellow Floridian friend with a laugh. “This music transports you, transports you to another place, another time. It’s quite special.”
As Blem tells it, the syrupy-sweet cocktail of symphony and island music that he’s seen become steadily more popular with high-level symphonies over the years inevitably bestows both audience and performer with a sunshine state of mind.
”When you think about this style of music, you lean back into it,” he said. “And we’re so used to in many genres, it’s very forward, anticipatory, it’s very ‘What’s next?’ This is really quite the opposite. So you can kind of see when the musicians lean into it — meaning lean back into it — and really take on that island vibe.”
For instance, during rehearsal for a recent performance with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, he found that within a couple days, one of its percussionists had been inspired to take up steel drums.
“There’s new sounds that you’re not used to in the traditional symphony sense, but I think once you see everyone lock in, you see a relaxation, you see a smile,” he said. “The next thing you know, they’re all in Hawaiian shirts and it’s a completely different experience.”
That mixing process, he says, is a draw of its own.
“It’s an interest, ‘How do these fit together?’ You’re curious. How does a one-man band, or how does a band with guitar and drums and maybe someone on the keys sound with a 50-piece orchestra? When you hear it for the first time, you’re just like ‘Oh my God … You’re going to hear these songs in new ways, and you’re going to hear the symphony play them in new ways.”
For audiences, he says he hopes it’s a reminder that music and the symphony are for everyone.
“Come in, unbutton that top button, relax a bit and have a great time,” Blem said. “You traditionally think of the symphony, you’re dressed to the nines — which you are totally welcome to do — you’re maybe in your tuxedo. And this says ‘You know what? Come as you are. You’re welcome. Let’s have fun.’”
That moment of relaxed acceptance, he finds, is often tangible. He hopes it helps draw new and younger audiences to the symphony during a time when classical music performance attendance across the country collectively fell 65% from 1982 to 2022, according to the National Endowment for the Arts.
“I think there’s always a moment in a pop-symphony show when you feel the audience take a deep breath, when they realize that it’s okay to laugh, it’s okay to cheer, to clap,” he said. “Because you’re kind of being given permission or rewriting the rules of what they expect an evening at the symphony to be.
”In this concert in particular, it’s the first time that there’s a call-and-response and you see everybody timidly going, ‘Do I chime in?’ ‘Okay … Salt!’ Then they’re on their feet and they’re having a grand evening. There’s a communal breath that the audience takes.”
Performances, conducted by Jack Everly, get underway on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Tickets start at $32 at pittsburghsymphony.org.
“We’re bringing island time to Pittsburgh,” said Blem. “I think it’s just going to be a true party.”