In tune with the times

Dallas Symphony takes shows on the road with 16-foot mobile concert truck

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

The Concert Truck is a 16-foot box truck converted into a fully functioning mobile concert hall.

Photo courtesy of Dallas Symphony Orchestra

The Concert Truck is a 16-foot box truck converted into a fully functioning mobile concert hall.

concerts symphony music

Music and Fashion

Miranda Lambert's 'Velvet Rodeo' wardrobe stars in new DFW exhibition

“Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo” at National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame

Photo by Tyler Conrad

“Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo” will open on November 7 at the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame.

Country star Miranda Lambert is bringing a bit of Las Vegas glamour and bling to North Texas. Her one-of-a-kind wardrobe from her "Velvet Rodeo" residency will go on display at the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame in Fort Worth when its new Icons Gallery opens November 7.

According to a release, the exhibition, called "Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo," was created in collaboration with Lambert, and will feature costumes from the singer's Las Vegas residency, which ran from September 2022 to April 2024.

Lambert said her inspiration came from an earlier visit to the Fort Worth museum, where she spotted historic Western pieces that she photographed and sent to her stylist, Tiffany Gifford. They combined those influences with the glitz of Elvis Presley's heyday to create the "Velvet Rodeo" wardrobe.

“Seeing these pieces now have a life beyond the stage as part of the Museum’s new Icons Gallery feels really full circle and special,” Lambert said in a statement.

Visitors will now have the opportunity to study garments usually seen in motion and under stage lights, appreciating the details that help transform clothing into an essential part of a performance.

The Icons Gallery is part of the Museum’s 16,000-square-foot expansion, which introduces new galleries and experiences that explore the accomplishments and influence of women of the West. The $19 million expansion features a new entrance facing Dickies Arena, new galleries including a photography gallery, an event space accommodating up to 250, and the new Cowgirl Carousel.

Miranda Lambert, right, with rodeo queens onstage at the 45th Cowgirl Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon at Dickies Arena. Photo by Ashley Gongora

Lambert, who was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2021, is an active mounted shooting competitor and horsewoman, giving her a connection to the West that reaches beyond her music. "Velvet Rodeo" brings together Lambert's identity as a cowgirl and her creative expression as a performer.

“Miranda’s confidence, determination and independence make her a wonderful representative of the women we honor,” says Pat Riley, executive director of the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, in the release. “Opening our Icons Gallery with this collaboration celebrates her accomplishments while giving visitors a new way to connect with a cowgirl they know and admire.”

According to a museum spokesperson, the temporary exhibition will remain on display for at least one year; no specific end date was given.

In preparation for the expansion grand opening, the Cowgirl will be closed to the public beginning October 19 and will reopen November 7, with a members-only preview at 10 am and a public opening at noon.

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