Karyn Garvin is the Operations and Special Projects Coordinator of the National Symphony Orchestra

Photos courtesy of Daryl Donley, Production Manager of the National Symphony Orchestra

Before we dive in to the new season, we thought we would give you one last look at how the outdoor concerts at the U.S. Capitol are staged, courtesy of the NSO's Production Manager and Photographer Extraordinaire, Daryl Donley.

Until the unexpected downpour just minutes to show time, it was a beautiful Labor Day weekend. Crews started setting up the giant tent for Sunday's concert the Friday before. Not even the most skilled meteorologist could have predicted that such splendid weather would suddenly transform into what Emil de Cou deemed "a dark and stormy night at the U.S. Capitol" without warning. But I digress.

The West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol has permanent anchor points in the ground just for this tent, which is used for our annual Labor Day concert, the last in our Capital Concerts series. For Memorial Day and Fourth of July, an even bigger tent is used that requires a completely different set of permanent anchor points.

Here we see the crew in the early stages of set up:

The tent is first connected to the support trusses.

A view of the tent with the Capitol Building in the background. Daryl took this shot from what is to become our "backstage" area once everything is in place.

Almost there…

Lift off!

The final product in action.

The entire process takes about four hours from start to finish, and that's just the tent! The crew still needs to set up the stage, backstage areas, lighting, sound…the list goes on. When the show's over, the crew will stay at the Capitol all night tearing down the set so that by the Tuesday morning after the holiday weekend, those who work on the Hill will never even know we were there.

As for the tent, it has gone into hibernation at Castle Mini Storage of Rockville, MD. Look for it next Labor Day!