Beginning Montgomery’s annual celebration of the Glorious Fourth will be the July 3 Independence Day Concert in Montgomery Park performed by the Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. This 7:30 PM concert, sponsored by Twin Lakes at Montgomery and Ohio National Financial Services, will start the festivities off on the right note!

This year’s concert theme “The Golden Age of Radio!” salutes the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and even 50’s, when Americans clustered around their radios to hear the latest. WGUC’s Suzanne Bona and WLW’s Marc Amazon will be special guests, recreating the ambience of the time when radio was king. Close your eyes and you’ll think you’ve gone back in time as the Encore Men’s Quartet nail the harmonies of swing, and the Big Band is back in business. From Duke Ellington and Glen Miller to James Taylor, you’ll hear music that streamed across the airwaves in those golden years.

For something completely different, and completely charming, Casey Clyde, a winner of BAMSO’s 2010 Young Artist Competition, will be on hand to play the Allegro from Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra No. 2 in D Major. And no, we are not forgetting the meaning of Independence Day – we will celebrate that as well, with Cincinnati composer Ed Howard’s Spirit of Cincinnatus: March, baritone Ben Basone performing America the Beautiful and the Encore Men’s Quartet joining in for the Battle Hymn of the Republic.