Classic cars and classical music

The Kennett Symphony Orchestra is gearing up for a new season of classical music, but things will get started with classic cars. And that’s a week before Music Director Michael Hall raises his baton for the opening performance.

The Classics at Brantwyn is a garden party event benefiting the orchestra and it’s been going on for more than a dozen years. Dozens of classic cars — Rolls Royces, Cadillacs, Chryslers, and Jaguars — will be on display and paraded for supporters of the classics to admire.

According to Tim Blair, the current board president of the Kennett Symphony, the event started 16 years ago because of two former symphony board members, Sandy Thompson and Paul Merluzzi.

“It was the brainchild of Sandy Thompson…She thought of this as a fundraiser because she realized that a lot of people like classic automobiles,” Blair said.

And that, he said, leads to another former board member and president, Paul Merluzzi.

“He loved classic cars and was a member of the Jaguar Club,” Blair said. “He was the one who always arranged this and emceed, but he passed away this year. So, this year’s Classics at Brantwyn is in honor of Sandy Thompson [who died a few years ago] and Paul Merluzzi.”

While the Classics at Brantwyn might be a classic event, its importance lies in the fact that it is a major fundraiser for the Kennett Symphony.

Blair said there are three primary sources of income for the symphony: ticket sales, grants and sponsors, and fund drives. Each of those areas brings in about one-third of the orchestra’s operating funds. The Brantwyn event, as a part of the fund drive effort, brings in about $25,000.

“It’s really important to us and, if I could, I’d have another just like it in the spring, but with a different theme. This really helps kick off our season.” And, as he said in a follow-up email, “Beautiful classic cars to benefit beautiful classic music of the Kennett Symphony.”

Blair added that concert attendance dropped considerably in the wake of the COVID-related lockdowns. People, he said, got out of the habit of going to concerts.

“People’s whole mental outlook of the world changed with the pandemic. They sat at home and did video games and they watched TV, and they got out of the joy of going to a live anything…We have spent the last three years rebuilding an audience that the pandemic basically removed.”

He said there would normally be an average of 500 people attending a Kennett Symphony concert, but post-pandemic they struggle to get 350 to 400 people. And he reiterated that ticket sales generate only about one-third of the symphony’s income.

“We’re working very hard to rebound from the pandemic,” Blair said.

Dave Ventura, also on the symphony board, who organizes the Classics at Brantwyn, said this year’s event on Oct. 6 is sold out so they’re not looking for anyone else to attend this year, but Blair wants people to get back to enjoying live classical music performed by the Kennett Symphony.

This year’s season gets underway at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13 at the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center in West Chester. That performance includes Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, and Beethoven’s Symphony No.8. General admission is $55. Tickets are available on Uptown’s website.

For a full list of Kennett Symphony’s concerts for this coming season, visit the orchestra’s website.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.