Fans of Cape Cod native Lily Mae Harrington won’t be seeing her on “Glee” this fall (she was eliminated from “The Glee Project” competition a couple of hours ago), but local fans can hear her sing the national anthem on Sunday, August 12, 5 to 7 PM, with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra on the Hyannis Village Green. Over 15,000 people are expected to attend the 27th annual TD Bank Pops by the Sea concert.
Keith Lockhart is conducting, Jim Belushi will be the guest conductor, Ann Hampton Callaway is the featured soloist, and Lily Mae Harrington will start things off with “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Lily Mae, 19, was selected as one of 14 contenders—out of over 40,000 auditioners—to compete on Season Two of “The Glee Project.” She made it through to the “final five” show tonight, but she and another contender were eliminating, and only three others will continue on to the final next week.
I was sorry to see her go—it was fun watching her sing and act and grow as a performer, especially after having seen her perform locally. Before Glee, she had performed at many community theaters on the Cape. She was one semester into her studies as a voice performance major at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, when she auditioned for “The Glee Project.”
Actor/comedian/musician/author Jim Belushi needs no introduction—he appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” starred in “According to Jim,” and in numerous movies. He is also a blues singer who sang for a time with Dan Aykroyd in the Blues Brothers band after his brother John Belushi died. It will be interesting to see if he brings his love of the blues to his performance.
Ann Hampton Callaway is a multiplatinum-selling jazz/pop singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. She has written songs for Barbra Streisand and will be performing a selection of Barbra’s hits at the concert. Calloway performed in the musical “Swing!” and wrote and sang the theme song to the television series, “The Nanny.”
The Boston Pops concert begins at 5 PM, but there is entertainment throughout the afternoon, from 1 to 4 PM. On the program are:
- The Bart Weisman Jazz Group with vocalist Lori Colombo (daughter of Lou Colombo, the posthumous honorary chair of the Pops concert).
- The Parkington Sisters, singers, songwriters, and multi-instrumentalists.
- The Crabgrass Bluegrass Band.
- Singer/songwriter Brian Sances and the Big Three. The group won the 2012 Arts Foundation Talent Search for the Citizens Bank Summer Concert Series.
The student finalists. Eva Fahey, center, holds her winning design.
Art is a big part of the concert. There was a T-shirt design competition, open to all students on the Cape. Eva Fahey of Sturgis Charter PS West won, and her design will be featured on the official Arts Foundation of Cape Cod T-shirt, available at the concert.
William R. Davis at the unvieling of his Pops by the Sea painting.
Harwich artist William R. Davis was selected to create the 2012 Pops by the Sea Commemorative Painting. He is considered one of the best marine artists in the US. According to the Arts Foundation, his oil paintings typically capture the serene light of sunrise or sunset on the water. He employs many of the techniques traditionally used by American luminosity painters to realize his personal vision.
His Hyannis Line steamboat features Pops by the Sea, Cape Cod, and musical flags and has a star-studded border.
The 2012 TD Bank Pops by the Sea concert is Sunday, August 13. General admission lawn tickets are $15 for adults, $20 on the day of the show. Tickets for children 6 to 12 are $5. One child under 5 is admitted free with each paid adult lawn ticket. Festival seating is $50 for adults. For more information visit artsfoundation.org/pops-by-the-sea.
Notes on The Arts 