Every summer, the Cultural District in Pittsburgh, PA fills with music and art lovers alike for The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival. This festival brings in thousands of artists and visitors offering free admission to most events like concerts, art showings and events for the entire family. The fair is spread out over Point State Park and Hertz Gateway Center and the whole city comes to join in the festivities.
The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival is ten days of music, arts and events celebrating Pittsburgh's deep cultural roots. Deep in the city along the Ohio River, local businesses will be preparing to host visitors and vendors alike. Downtown Pittsburgh has more to offer than just a festival, the cultural district sits right in the heart of the city with restaurants, hotels and museums that are rich in Pittsburgh's history. The festival trails along Point State Park, a large area within the city, walking distance to everything downtown.
On the south side of the park there is a long stretch of local and national artists with their work on display. Artists can purchase a booth and sell their works but the quality of the art has to be high. Before an artist can register for a booth, it is judged to be sure it's of the highest quality, and then they are invited to participate.
There has also been an exciting addition to the festival, recently the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra rejoined the festival after a lengthy time of not participating. The Orchestra last preformed at the Festival in 1977 and was one of the main musical attractions since it joined in 1965. After being absent for more than 30 years, Dollar Bank and Peoples Natural Gas have returned them to the show for a special, free to the public concert in Point State Park.
The concert is being sponsored in part by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians. The company made the decision to share in the fees associated with bringing them back to the festival because they felt it was an important part of the musical and cultural line-up. They are excited to return to a culturally rich event where all music and arts venues are celebrated.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck is the conductor of the concert which will open with Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, followed by works by Johann Strauss Jr., Hummel, Khachaturian, Shostakovich and Dvorak. The concert will conclude with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. The featured soloist will be Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's principal trumpeter George Vosburgh. This talented group is world renowned and very rarely does a performance of this caliber come at such a low cost to the public.