The concert will begin on the riverfront and should last approximately 1 ½ hours.  The orchestra performs from a 195-foot-long floating stage, which has traveled to Paris, St. Petersburg, London and hundreds of waterfront communities here in the US. 

More about the AWSO:
For 54 years the American Wind Symphony Orchestra has been making musical headlines along the waterways of the United States, the Caribbean and Northern Europe. Called “a remarkable cultural phenomenon” by New York Magazine’s music critic Alan Rich, the group was founded in 1957 by its music director, Robert Austin Boudreau, who motivates his top notch young musicians to perform at their highest capacity.

The 2012 tour on the AWSO’s unique floating stage, “Point Counterpoint II” began in mid-June as the vessel and its troubadours presented an unforgettable experience to citizens of Columbus, Mississippi. The orchestra has traversed the Tombigbee Waterway, Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, and will enter the Ohio this weekend, progressing upriver to its home port of Pittsburgh, where a homecoming celebration of the orchestra’s 55th anniversary will include a Cuban music and arts festival, as well as a conductors and composers symposium.

The orchestra’s audiences bring folding chairs and blankets to the riverside and watch in fascination as the shell of the orchestra’s floating arts center, “Point Counterpoint II,” opens and the music begins. From that point on, there is a shared experience between audience and performers that is remembered for many years. The music is unique and exciting, the floating stage is a one-of-a-kind wonder, and the setting is a harmonious blending of river sounds, the lowering sun, and camaraderie with one’s neighbors. Robert Boudreau has truly found a way to make the arts a part of life.

The arrival of Point Counterpoint II at the riverfront always causes a stir. The silver vessel, 195 feet long and 38 feet wide, once seen on a foggy day, was mistaken for a UFO! It was designed by the renowned architect Louis I. Kahn, subject of the  documentary film, “My Architect”, which was nominated for an Academy Award. On board the vessel, in addition to the central stage, one can find art galleries and a small theatre.