"We didn't seek a country music star," said Sun Valley Summer Symphony Executive Director Jennifer Teisinger. "It's been a group effort to have Garth Brooks play at our benefit."
The country music legend will play a solo show with his guitar and also play with the orchestra for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony benefit concert on Sunday, Aug. 1.
Brooks has found his way to Sun Valley via hotelier Steve Wynn, a Sun Valley resident and generous supporter of the Sun Valley Pavilion.
"Steve Wynn has been very supportive," Teisinger said. "We are putting this show together with Garth. It is a collaborative effort, and it will be a unique experience show."
Teisinger said Brooks has not performed with orchestras very often and the symphony and Brooks are in the process of creating the show.
Brooks has sold in excess of 128 million albums. In 2007, he became the first artist to put out a simultaneous edition of his latest collection for a charitable cause. The "pink edition" of "The Ultimate Hits" raised money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an organization that raises funds to fight breast cancer. His body of work—including the groundbreaking "No Fences, Ropin' the Wind," "The Hits" and "Double Live"—propelled country music as a genre to the front pages of newspapers and the covers of magazines worldwide, to the point that Forbes declared on its cover, "Country Conquers Rock," and featured Garth in a major music piece.
The Sun Valley Summer Symphony benefit concert is the symphony's only fundraising event of the year. The proceeds from the benefit support the free symphony concerts in August and the symphony's education programs.
"Brooks does perform at benefits and charitable events," Teisinger said. "He was retired and came out of retirement to do a series of concert at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. He is a consummate entertainer, he loves doing what he does and he loves the audience."
Teisinger predicted that the Sun Valley Summer Symphony audience will embrace Brooks.
Public ticketing information and the procedure for buying tickets for the Sun benefit concert will be available in June. Parking, ticketing and general concert information will be available at svsummersymphony.org and sunvalley.com in June.
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
Garth Brooks will play for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony benefit concert on Sunday, Aug. 1.
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