If you live in Culver City and have never checked out the Summer Music Series in Marina del Rey's Burton W. Chace Park, make this the summer you check it out. You won't regret it.

This series of fee outdoor concerts - which begins on July 11 - is held in one of this area's the most spectacular waterfront settings: Burton W. Chace Park. Four classical music concerts featuring the 75-member Marina del Rey Summer Symphony alternate with four pop concerts on select Thursday and Saturday evenings. All concerts begin at 7 p.m., generally lasting two hours, and are free to the public.

Bands set up outside on the green in Burton W. Chace Park, where audiences are invited to picnic in advance of each concert. Arrive early and bring low beach chairs and blankets for first-come, first-served seating. A limited number of chairs are available for on-site rental.

July 11, 7:00PM - Opera at the Shore

Conductor Frank Fetta and the Marina del Rey Summer Symphony. Finalists and winners from the Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition in arias and ensembles from some of the best-loved operas, including selections from Muccini, Massenet, Donizetti, Gounod, Wagner, and Verdi.

July 20, 7:00PM - Billy Ocean

July 25, 7:00PM - American Influences

Conductor Frank Fetta and the Marina del Rey Summer Symphony. Whether native born or visiting, inspired by nature or city streets, this evening’s featured composers celebrateing America and its cultural influences. Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto was composed at the end of his three-year visit to the U.S. Craig Safan’s “The Last Starfighter” captures the excitement of American films; Leonard Bernstein’s “Overture” to “West Side Story” is an American Classic on struggles on the city streets. Ferde Grofé celebrates this nation’s natural wonder and greatness in his “Grand Canyon Suite.” Featuring Ruslan Biryukov, cello.

August 3, 7:00PM - Taylor Dayne

August 8, 7:00PM - Imaginary Places

Conductor Frank Fetta and the Marina del Rey Summer Symphony. Composers often find inspiration in places-real or illusion. For Bruch ("Scottish Fantasy") it was both: Scottish Folk Songs inspired him, but he didn’t visit Scotland until after completing his Scottish Fantasy. Carnival is the festival time before the severity and restrictions of Lent. Dvorak’s ("Carnival Overture") vivid overture gives the listener an imaginary sound-world of a carnival. Richard Strauss' Don Juan is an orchestral tour de force, which is more of the composer's own imagery of the amoral Don than how he has been portrayed elsewhere.

August 17, 7:00PM - Poncho Sanchez

August 22, 7:00PM - Russian Reprise

Conductor Frank Fetta and the Marina del Rey Summer Symphony. The Russians return to Chace Park with Nikolai RimskyKorsakov’s ("Scheherazade") evocative music of those Thousand and One Arabian Nights.  Tchaikovsy returns to the orchestra and the park with the perennial favorite of his always engaging first piano concerto.

August 31, 7:00PM - Rose Royce

Burton W. Chace Park is located at 13650 Mindanao Way in Marina del Rey. Call (310) 305-9545 for more information.