Riverside Symphonia Returns To Tinicum With Fireworks, Music

TINICUM — The Fourth of July weekend got off to a bang on Saturday night with the return of the Concert Under the Stars to Tinicum Park.

Hundreds gathered on the grassy lawn for a picnic supper before being treated to an Independence Day weekend performance by the Riverside Symphonia under the direction of Mariusz Smolij.

Considered one of the most exciting conductors of his generation, Smolij has directed the symphonia for 29 years.

As the sun disappeared behind a ridge and the temperature cooled, a medley of songs by Bucks County’s own Oscar Hammerstein filled the air as the musicians performed a salute to the great musical team of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Hammerstein penned many of Broadway’s greatest hit musicals right here in Bucks County at his Doylestown farm, including South Pacific, The Sound of Music and Oklahoma.

The concert continued with selections from West Side Story, written by Stephen Sondheim, another Bucks Countian who graduated from George School and was mentored by Hammerstein.

The concert also included a Salute to Ol’ Blue Eyes, Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Big Band Classic Tunes, Gershwin by George, Hollywood Blockbusters and Amazing Grace.

The concert reached a crescendo with a patriotic musical celebration featuring America the Beautiful, a Salute to the Armed Forces, the 1812 Overture and John Phillip Sousa’s immortal, “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

As the band performed the stirring patriotic chords of the National March of the United States, brilliant fireworks lit up the sky in a dazzling display of color and sound.

For 20 minutes, brilliant streams of light shot high into the night sky raining steams of color down from the heavens as loud bangs and flashes of lights punctuated the show.

The special evening was sponsored by the Thompson Organization with funding made possible by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The National Anthem was performed by Riley Bultemeier.