Southern Delaware Orchestra (SODELO) will perform “A Summer Celebration of America’s Music” on Saturday, July 19 at 3 PM in the Gerald W. Thompson Center for Performing Arts at Milford High School. The orchestra will feature America’s legendary composers including Gershwin, Copland, Berlin, Sousa and Williams. Guest conductor is Stephen Czarkowski and Dr. Makeda Hampton as a soprano soloist.
SODELO was formed in February 2022 when Steve Greifer started reaching out on local social media to see if he could find some musicians to play chamber music with when he moved to Milton in April of that year. It was his desire to play some duets or in a string quartet.
His first postings asking about fellow musicians attracted Eva DelGallo, a Lewes violinist and retired school orchestra conductor, but she had bigger ideas than a quartet. She felt that there would be a great deal of interest in starting an actual orchestra in Southern Delaware.
James Allen Henderson, head of Orchestral Studies at the University of Delaware joined as a third founder when he volunteered to lead the other founders. The first rehearsal was held on May 3 with 30 string musicians, and, on July 16, the Southern Delaware Orchestra played its first concert at Bethel United Methodist Church in Lewes to a standing ovation from a capacity audience.
The orchestra practices every Tuesday night and has a full roster of concerts. They welcome musicians of all ages, from retirees to active professional musicians to talented teens.
Tickets for the event in Milford are $25 for adults. High school students, teachers and staff in Milford School District may attend the concert for free but will need to present their school identification. Tickets can be purchased online at https://onlinebutter.com/summer2025mhs.
