The Alternative Press

WESTFIELD, NJ—On September 9, more than 200 people of all ages attended the Westfield Symphony Orchestra’s first ever Swing Time event at L’Affaire in Mountainside. Some of the country’s greatest jazz and big band musicians joined members of the orchestra to create an 18-piece ensemble performance, with vocals provided by The Manhattan Dolls, a New York-based tribute group to The Andrews Sisters.

The afternoon performance, which featured such favorites as “Sing, Sing, Sing,” “Begin the Beguine” and “In the Mood,” was a further manifestation of the diversity that the Westfield Symphony Orchestra provides on a regular basis, according to Music Director and Conductor David Wroe.

The fully authentic big band experience included the configuration of seating around an immense dance floor in front of the band that was often packed throughout the afternoon. Many took to dancing off the floor, as well—in the aisles and in every available space in the large room.

According to the Westfield Symphony Orchestra, this event was made possible through the outstanding generosity of three local impresarios—Keith S. Hertell, Sal Caruana and Gerald Glasser.

“We hope to make it at least an annual tradition,” Wroe told TAP in an earlier interview.

The WSO’s next performance will be Bizet’s opera Carmen in concert on Saturday, September 29. For more information about the WSO, now celebrating its 30^th anniversary, visit www.westfieldsymphony.org.