During the start of Covid in 2020 I went to a yard concert in a friends neighborhood where a quartet from the symphony played. It was so lovely to sit outside and hear peaceful music during that tense and trying time. I asked them if they would play for our block on Merrimac.

The first Symphony on Merrimac was in May of 2020 on An’s beautiful lawn at 5610 Merrimac. She has a lovely porch and huge oak trees that make a natural amphitheater for a beautiful sound of symphony music and the breeze blowing. That first concert had about 20 people all sitting apart in masks and all so appreciative to be outside enjoying a peaceful evening. 

We’ve had seven concerts, one in the spring and fall each year and a Christmas one the first Covid Christmas of 2020 where we had to have an outdoor heater to keep the players fingers warm!  We’ve heard all kinds of music from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, to Andrew Lloyd Weber. Usually it’s a quartet of violins, viola and cello but once we had a harp on the grass!

We now invite the entire Greenland Hills Neighborhood and friends of friends with about 80 people attending the last few concerts. We ask for donations to pay the musicians or to be donated yo the symphony’s “Young Musicians” program.  

We hope to be able to continue this new tradition which was one silver lining that came from the calamity of Covid.