The Detroit Tigers' bid for the World Series began last Friday, and no group has been more spirited in their support than the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, who played "Go Get Em Tigers!"--complete with Tigers baseball caps and team colors proudly displayed.
This Artie Fields tune was the theme song of Detroit's 1968 championship team. It was played in 2006 to celebrate the Tigers' win over the Yankees in the American League Division Series. DSO librarians arranged a version of the tune for orchestra and children's choir to cheer on the Tigers as they play in yet another Amercian League Division Series, this time against the Oakland A's. Here's Leonard Slatkin leading the DSO and the DCC in Detroit's historic Orchestra Hall:
Slatkin joins other maestros who have shown their team spirit lately, including Riccardo Muti leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Blackhawks' theme song "Chelsea Dagger."
News out of Detroit has been good lately, suggesting that the DSO is firmly on the road to recovery after a long-term strike in 2010-11. This strike lasted for six months and brought the orchestra to the brink of bankruptcy.
Since then, the orchestra has experienced a remarkable recovery. Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press wrote, "Two years later, the DSO has taken key steps to rebuild its business model, launched innovative programs designed to nurture new audiences at home and abroad and filled its depleted ranks with a steadily growing crop of A-list musicians."
The DSO is expanding its presence beyond downtown Detroit and into the surrounding community, reaching more new listeners than ever before. And the orchestra recently gave a successful concert at Carnegie Hall, which Leonard Slatkin called a "landmark" in the orchestra's recovery.
This is wonderful news for a city experiencing its own debilitating downturn. The DSO's spirited performance in support of an equally energized baseball team is a much needed shot in the arm for downtown Detroit.
