CAZENOVIA — The Lorenzo State Historic Site in Cazenovia will host The Syracuse Orchestra, formerly Symphoria, on Thursday, July 25, at 7:30 p.m.
The orchestra will perform classical and popular music, including compositions by Smetana, Bernstein, and Copland, plus music from “Harry Potter” and “The Legend of Zelda.”
Spectators are invited to bring picnics and set up their chairs on the mansion’s front lawn at 17 Rippleton Rd. The rain location is the Cazenovia High School gymnasium.
Admission to the event is free.
“We are so pleased to have the full orchestra on the front lawn of Lorenzo once again, and we are grateful to The Syracuse Orchestra board, staff, and generous donors who have made this free community event possible,” said NYS Parks Historic Site Regional Supervisor Michael Roets.
The non-profit Symphoria was formed in late 2012 as a musician-led cooperative orchestra — one of only two in the United States — after the long-running Syracuse Symphony Orchestra filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
In February 2024, Symphoria announced that its name would be changed to The Syracuse Orchestra.
The orchestra presents over 50 concerts and reaches 100,000 people annually in venues ranging from libraries and health care facilities to public parks, churches, museums, and its home venue, the Crouse-Hinds Theater at the Civic Center.
Lorenzo last hosted the full orchestra in 2016.
“Most years between 1989 and 2016, Lorenzo hosted the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and later Symphoria,” said Roets. “These concerts [featured] a full symphony orchestra on the front lawn [and were] free to the public. Due to changes in funding at Lorenzo, the concerts were not possible for a few years. [As] restrictions were easing from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Symphoria planned to return with a wind quintet in the garden at Lorenzo. Although rain forced the concert into the First Presbyterian Church, it was still a lovely event, and it left Symphoria and Lorenzo both interested in getting the full orchestra back to Cazenovia. This year, Symphoria changed its name [and] offered to come back to Lorenzo once again with the full orchestra.”
According to Roets, Lorenzo hopes to make The Syracuse Orchestra concert an annual event.
To learn more about the orchestra, visit syracuseorchestra.org.
Pre-concert fundraiser dinner
The Friends of Lorenzo (FOL) will hold a fundraiser dinner on the front lawn of Lorenzo before the concert.
Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., with dinner and dessert from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m.
The buffet dinner will include carved beef tenderloin, chicken marsala, Chantilly potatoes, and penne with vodka cream sauce.
The dinner will be held under a tent, rain or shine.
Proceeds will go to the non-profit FOL to support the continued preservation and promotion of the Lorenzo State Historic Site.
“The Friends’ fundraising goes first to support the maintenance of the formal gardens and the Christmas at Lorenzo event,” said Roets. “Additional funds raised in recent years have been instrumental in restoring the Dark Aisle Arboretum and the West Woods to their historic evergreen appearance. Future projects that funds will be used for include reproducing and installing the wallpaper in the Office, [upgrading] the collection storage facility, and updating the carriage house exhibit.”
To learn more about the fundraiser, to purchase tickets, or to become a member, visit friendsoflorenzo.org.
Lorenzo is the 1807 Federal-style home of John Lincklaen, Holland Land Company agent and founder of Cazenovia.
The Lincklaen/Ledyard family continually occupied Lorenzo until the property and the mansion’s contents were conveyed to New York State in 1968.
The site is operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and supported with help from the FOL.
To learn more about the site, call 315-655-3200 or visit parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/Lorenzo.
