If audiences can't go to Dallas Symphony Orchestra concerts this holiday season, the orchestra will haul the concerts to them. A mobile venue called The Concert Truck will take up residency with the DSO, rolling out small pop-up shows around the city through mid-December.
The concerts will be a collaboration among DSO musicians, members of other arts organizations (including Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts, Dallas Theater Center, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre), and concert pianists Susan Zhang and Nick Luby.
Zhang and Luby founded The Concert Truck in 2016 as a mobile concert stage that could take classical chamber music directly to communities. According to their website, they converted a 16-foot box truck into a fully functioning concert hall on wheels, complete with lights, sound system, and piano. The truck won Most Original Idea in Social Enterprise in the 2018 Johns Hopkins University Business Plan Competition.
The founders take the truck all over the the country, performing alone and with other musicians at a range of venues, according to a release. This fall, they've partnered with The Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera, University of South Carolina, and more.
Zhang and Luby will perform in all of the upcoming Dallas shows.
“Our musicians have been wonderful to volunteer to play chamber music around the city. Since May they have done more than 80 appearances in many different locations,” says Kim Noltemy, Ross Perot President & CEO of the Dallas Symphony, in a release. “As the weather has gotten cooler, we looked for a way to continue this music-making, and we found The Concert Truck."
Dallas-area concerts will be held outdoors in both traditional and nontraditional venues, including Neiman Marcus Garden at NorthPark Center, The Sound at Cypress Water, and UT Southwestern Medical. Audiences and performers will be able to maintain a safe distance while enjoying live performances, the DSO assures.
Each concert will last 45 to 60 minutes and will be free to attend.
"This will be an incredible method for the DSO to perform outside the Meyerson in a very professional manner," Noltemy says. "We are delighted to be able to share the stage, literally, with our colleague arts groups in Dallas and take the show on the road to our audiences around the city. We are so thankful to Susan and Nick for the vision and idea to create this innovative mobile stage.”
Here's the current Concert Truck pop-up concert schedule, with more details and locations to come, they say. Pianists Zhang and Luby will perform at all events. (Other artists and locations are subject to change.)
Keep up with the truck’s location at mydso.com.
Saturday, November 21: The Potter’s House Church
Members of the DSO
Sunday, November 22 at 2 pm: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Members of the DSO
Monday, November 23 at 6:30 pm: Medical City Dallas Hospital
Members of the DSO
Wednesday, December 2 at 5:30 pm: The Ronald McDonald House
Members of the DSO
Thursday, December 3-Friday, December 4 at 6 pm: Neiman Marcus Garden at NorthPark Center
Members of the DSO
Saturday, December 5 at 3 pm: The Sound at Cypress Water
Susan Zhang and Nick Luby, piano
Sunday, December 6 at 4 pm: Neiman Marcus Garden at NorthPark Center
Members of the DSO
Tuesday, December 8 at 3:30 pm: Booker T. Washington HSPVA
BTW Students
Wednesday, December 9 at 12 pm: UT Southwestern Medical – Clements Hospital
Members of the DSO
Wednesday, December 9 at 5:30 pm: Klyde Warren Park
Members of Dallas Theater Center's Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company with Members of the DSO
Thursday, December 10 at 6 pm: HALL Arts Hotel – Urban Garden
Members of the DSO
Friday, December 11 at 3:30 pm: Booker T. Washington HSPVA
BTW Students
Friday, December 11 at 6 pm: Klyde Warren Park
Members of the DSO
Saturday, December 12 at 12:30 pm – Location TBC
Members of Dallas Theater Center's Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company with Members of the DSO
Sunday, December 13 at 12 pm: The Nasher Sculpture Center
Members of the DSO
Sunday, December 13 at 3:30 pm: Meyerson Symphony Center
Dallas Black Dance Theatre's DBDT: Encore! with Members of the DSO
Monday, December 14 at 10:30 am: Greiner Middle School
Members of the DSO
Tuesday, December 15 at 9 am: Eduardo Mata Elementary School
Members of the DSO
Wednesday, December 16 at 3 pm: The Landon at Lake Highlands
Members of the DSO
Thursday, December 17 at 2 pm: Methodist Hospital Dallas
Members of the DSO
Thursday, December 17 at 7 pm: St. Paul United Methodist (with caroling)
Singers from St. Paul Choir with Members of the DSO
Friday, December 18: Trinity Basin Prep School, Ledbetter Campus
Members of the DSO
Friday, December 18 at 6 pm: Klyde Warren Park
Members of the DSO
They can fit a little chamber ensemble on stage.
