We’re just 10 days away from a total solar eclipse in the Rochester region, and dozens of events are planned over the next week to help build the anticipation.  Our region is bracing for hundreds of thousands of visitors, and leaders are trying to ensure their visit makes Rochester a place to remember. 

Next Sunday, the evening before the eclipse, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra will transform Blue Cross Arena into what they’re calling a “space-themed spectacle.”

The orchestra will perform amid a giant screen displaying vivid space visuals. Cutting-edge lighting and effects will accompany Rochester City Ballet dancers, PUSH Physical Theatre artists and Troupe Vertigo aerialists.  

“This is really like an orchestra show meets all the bells and whistles of a rock show,” says Jherrard Hardeman, the RPO’s assistant conductor. “We pulled out all the stops and anyone, regardless of their attention span or age, will enjoy it!”

The concert showcases eclipse-inspired music, including movie music from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “E.T. the Extraterrestrial,” and “Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace;” Gustav Holst’s planetary pieces; and a new composition written especially for the concert by Jeff Tyzik, the RPO’s Principal Pops Conductor.

“The orchestra is excited to bring their music to people, not just from Rochester but from around the world who decide to come to Rochester and take part in our version of the eclipse,” he tells News10NBC. 

Leading up to the RPO’s show, there is a week’s worth of activities planned across our region.

The Rochester Museum and Science Center is expecting thousands of visitors in the lead-up to totality. “We are running our planetarium shows already — it’s almost all eclipse all the time, we have hands-on activities, we’re having people make pinhole projectors, making sure people can get their glasses, we’re all-eclipse,” says Dan Schneiderman, the eclipse coordinator for RMSC. 

Preparations are underway at Innovative Field for Solar Palooza. “We’ve got the Skycoasters playing live music; we’ve got an arts and crafts station; all our mascots will be there, Spikes, Mitsy and Mack; we’ll have players there signing autographs,” explains Red Wings General Manager Dan Mason.

They’re also working on the menu. “We’ve got the rocket red hot, Pluto’s popcorn, nebula nachos, planetary plate, space station Sunday, among many other celestial snacks,” Mason adds.  All of the boxes at Innovative Field are sold out, but tickets for the main seating bowl and field are still available. 

As chair of the Rochester Eclipse Task Force, Deb Ross has spent the last seven years planning for next weekend,.

“My dream for this community was to make the absolute most of its moment in the world’s — I was going to say spotlight, but its shadow,” she tells News10NBC. “We need to make the most of our moment in the shadow, to show the entire word who we are and to give everybody living here, and all the hundreds of thousands of people visiting here, a whole weekend of experiences that saturates them in Rochester and the eclipse.”