You live in Culver City and haven't checked out the Summer Music Series in Marina del Rey's Burton W. Chace Park, you're making a big mistake.

This series of fee outdoor concerts - which begins on July 12 - 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 12, 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. 

July 21, 7:00PM - Co-Headline, Shelby Lynne & Lisa Loeb

July 26, 7:00PM - Looking to England: Elgar, Walton, Delilus, Vaughn, Britten

Conductor Frank Fetta and the Marina del Rey Summer Symphony, Rich Capparela - Narrator

Edward Elgar's always popular "Pomp and Circumstances, No. 1" sets the tone. Honoring Queen Elizabeth, II's Diamond Jubilee will be William Walton's "Orb and Specter." Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Frederick Delilus, 1862-1935, "La Calinda" and "Sleigh Ride" will be on the program. The English Pastoral music of Ralph Vaughn Williams comes with "Norfolk Rhapsody." The final English composer is Benjamin Britten with his  "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" narrated by Classical Music DJ Rich Capparela of KUSC fm 91.5.

August 4, 7:00PM - Arturo Sandoval

August 9, 7:00PM - Remembering France: Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc

Conductor Frank Fetta and the Marina del Rey Summer Symphony, Christina and Michelle Naughton - Duo Pianos  

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Claude Debussy, 1862-1918, the program will present his "March Ecossaise" and the brilliant "Iberia" from "Images." Maurice Ravel returns to these concerts with his ode to the dance: "La Valse." Then the highly anticipated duo-piano Naughton Twins, Christina and Michelle, perform the brilliant "Concerto in dminor for Two Pianos" by Francis Poulenc. 

August 18, 7:00PM - Ambrosia

August 23, 7:00PM - Russians There and Here: Rachmaninov, Gershwin, and John Adams

Conductor Frank Fetta and the Marina del Rey Summer Symphony, Lindsay Deutsch - Violin

Serge Rachmaninov, Russian born, fled the Communists, and lived out his life in Beverly Hills. The program has his "Symphony No. 2," one of his most lyrical and beloved works. George Gershwin, born in New York City, was of Russian-Jewish heritage. The brilliant violinist Lindsay Deutsch returns to the Marina concerts with her arrangement for violin and orchestra of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," a work which has become a rhapsody for this nation. To represent the U.S. John Adams' "The Chairman Dances, Foxtrot for orchestra" from "Nixon in China" fills the bill.

September 1, 7:00PM - Evelyn "Champagne" King

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