​​The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra delivered a wonderful blast from the past in Dancing in the Street: Music of Motown, which took place at the Orpheum on May 24 and 25.

First, a confession of sorts. Mowtown was lighting up the charts during my high school and university years—I listened to it back then, and many of the songs featured in the VSO program still reside on many of my playlists. I have also been a regular VSO classical music attendee over the years and love the orchestra.

That all said, I was one of those “purists” (aka snobs) who believed the two genres belonged in separate boxes. But this concert proved beyond a doubt how misguided (foolish!) I was. The combination was a joy to listen to and to watch.

Three vocalists—Chester Gregory, Michael Lynche, and Crystal Monee Hall—did a masterful job of covering 20 instantly recognizable hits, taking turns delivering solos, duets, and backup vocals. True, they weren’t Stevie, Diana, Marvin, or Lionel, but if you closed your eyes for a second, they sounded damn close!

A strong percussion group, led by Jacob Navarro on drums and Shubh Saran on electric guitar, provided a driving beat that had everybody moving in their seats—and some even standing up to dance, blocking the view for everyone behind them (am I showing my age??).

While the entire orchestra under the direction of Sean O’Loughlin, was a treat to listen to, the evening was especially enjoyable in that it afforded the horn section an opportunity to show off their formidable Motown chops.

Hence, my aha moment that orchestral music and Motown fit together beautifully. Which, had I had been paying attention in the first place, should not have come as a surprise. Because it turns out, the two have a long history together. As the Detroit Symphony Orchestra recounts on its website: 

From 1964 to 1972, the orchestra players who helped craft the Motown Sound were members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, helmed by then-DSO Concertmaster Gordon Staples. Tales of the DSO-Motown connection sound almost mythical today, but they’re true—on many a night, after finishing up a performance with the DSO, Staples would round up his band of musicians and drive north on Woodward Avenue to Motown’s Studio A (nicknamed “the Snake Pit”), where the group would lay down orchestra parts until the wee hours of the morning.

The evening might be best summed up by the penultimate song choice. The standing ovation at the end of the show had me believing that everyone else shared my view: we would have happily stayed in our seats “All Night Long”.