"From Broadway to Hollywood": Peter Nero and the Philly Pops® returns to the Mann Center07/11/2006Program features rising Broadway stars Kelli O’Hara and Aaron Lazar
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops® returns to The Mann Center for the Performing Arts with the glamour of Hollywood and the glitter of Broadway in one magnificent concert, “From Broadway to Hollywood,” on Thursday, August 10, 2006, at 8:00 p.m. The program features music of Broadway and film, including Broadway shows that were made into films and films that found success as Broadway productions. Included will be many of Broadway’s greatest songs as well as scores and themes from epic films. A special segment will be devoted to Grammy-Award-winning Peter Nero’s virtuoso piano interpretations. Two-time Tony-award nominee Kelli O’Hara and Phantom of the Opera star Aaron Lazar join Peter and the POPS as special guests. Two of Broadway’s brightest young talents, they just completed highly acclaimed performances in the Tony Award-winning production of The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center Theater. “From Broadway to Hollywood” is Peter Nero and the Philly Pops’ first concert at the Mann Center since the 1999 summer season. Tickets are on sale now: call 215.893.1999 or visit www.phillypops.org.
Kelli O’Hara has won critical praise and Tony nominations for her performances as Babe Williams in The Pajama Game opposite Harry Connick Jr. and as Clara Johnson in The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center Theater. Ms. O’Hara’s previous Broadway appearances include Jekyll & Hyde, Follies, Sweet Smell of Success, and Dracula. Her off-Broadway and regional theater credits include Jekyll & Hyde on tour, My Life with Albertine, and regional productions of The Light in the Piazza. Her film credits include The Dying Gaul starring Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott and Jekyll & Hyde for Broadway Television Network. Ms. O’Hara has performed concerts at the Kennedy Center (with Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony Orchestra), Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and Lincoln Center. She appears on cast recordings of The Light in the Piazza (Nonesuch), The Sweet Smell of Success (Sony), My Life with Albertine (PS Classics), and Dream True (PS Classics). She has appeared on such television programs as The Today Show, A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
Aaron Lazar, a native of Cherry Hill, N.J., has been praised by the Wall Street Journal, which wrote that his “youthful tenor voice is both operatic in size and Italianate in quality.” His performance as Fabrizio Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza was recently broadcast on Live from Lincoln Center. Mr. Lazar made his Broadway debut as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera in 2002 and has performed lead roles in Broadway’s Oklahoma! and a national tour of The Scarlet Pimpernel. This fall he performs the role of Enjolras in a special limited six-month engagement of Les Misérables on Broadway. Mr. Lazar has performed with Barry Manilow on the road in Madison Square Garden and the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. He graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with his eye on medical school. After deciding to pursue his passion for music instead, he entered and completed the highly competitive MFA program at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Mr. Lazar’s brother, Chad Lazar, is also a singer and performed with The Voices of the POPS, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops’ resident vocal group, during the 2005-06 season.
Peter Nero has built an impressive career as a conductor, arranger, composer, and master pianist. “If he weren’t such a superb musician, Peter Nero might be easy to dismiss as a mere great entertainer,” notes Peter Dobrin, music critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dobrin goes on to say, “In musicians’ parlance, Nero’s got chops.” Dubbed by the Washington Post as “…the epitome of the Pops Conductor/Performer,” Mr. Nero won the Grammy Award for “Best New Artist” in 1961 and since that time has garnered 10 additional nominations and released 67 albums. Mr. Nero recently returned from two highly successful performances with the Dayton Philharmonic featuring Senator John Glenn as narrator on Mr. Nero’s multimedia piece Voyage into Space. His recent guest performances include engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center; the Saint Louis, Pacific, Detroit, and Virginia Symphony Orchestras; and the Buffalo Philharmonic. A Steinway artist for close to 50 years, Mr. Nero returned to Carnegie Hall in 2003 to perform at the 150th Anniversary of Steinway Gala with many noted pianists, including Billy Taylor, Herbie Hancock, and Michel Legrand. Mr. Nero has made numerous television appearances on national networks as well as PBS. He is the recipient of six Honorary Doctorates and in 1999 received the Pennsylvania Distinguished Arts Award.
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops was founded in 1979 under the leadership of two-time Grammy Award-winning virtuoso pianist, conductor, and performer Peter Nero. As founding music director, Mr. Nero’s unique and extraordinary talents have helped to create and develop innovative programming blending all musical genres. In turn, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops concerts have produced continuously growing and loyal audiences. One of America’s premier pops orchestras and a significant part of Philadelphia’s cultural scene, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops subscriptions have nearly doubled since the 2000-01 season, as have single ticket sales. The Official Pops Orchestra of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops performs to regularly sold-out audiences as a resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
Now entering its 27th season, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops continues to delight current audiences, while cultivating new audiences throughout the region. Peter Nero’s imaginative programming has made Philly Pops concerts unique and widely popular in the pops world. His program concepts and participation as piano soloist have been received with boundless enthusiasm and acclaim. POPS concerts run the gamut from great classics to jazz improvisation, big band to Broadway hits, ragtime to rock ‘n’ roll. Guest artists join the POPS each season – established artists as well as outstanding new vocalists from Broadway and the concert stage. The Voices of The POPS, the resident vocal group, has become a member of the Philly Pops family as well. Since the summer of 1981, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops has served as musical host for the City of Philadelphia’s July 4th and Labor Day festivities. They have been joined by James Earl Jones, who read from the Declaration of Independence, and other great talents including Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Ray Charles, and Dionne Warwick. On July 4, 2005, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops performed for over a half million people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, welcoming guests Sir Elton John, Patti LaBelle, and Bryan Adams.
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops was featured on ABC-TV’s “Independence Day 2001,” a live, star-studded national broadcast, sharing the stage with such renowned stars as Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Garth Brooks. They also had the honor of performing at the opening of the National Constitution Center in 2003 and participating on National Public Radio’s nation-wide radio broadcast on July 4, 2002. Earlier that year, Mr. Nero’s good friend, U.S. Senator and former astronaut John Glenn, appeared with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops in a special performance of Mr. Nero’s original composition Voyage into Space. During the 2003-04 season, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops celebrated its 25th anniversary. One of the most significant events of that year was the signing of a three-CD contract with DRG Records, making them one of only a few orchestras in the country with such a deal. There have been many memorable moments for Peter Nero and the Philly Pops including a debut performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on February 6, 1984, with another visit to the prestigious concert hall in May 1997. Peter Nero and the Philly Pops was the featured performer at Philadelphia’s “We the People” concert, the 1987 celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, broadcast nationally on CBS-TV. Other distinctions include performing at the Washington, D.C., gala to commemorate NASA’s 40th anniversary in 1998, and a performance for the Republican Governor’s Association at the Republican National Convention during the summer of 2000. More information about Peter Nero and the Philly Pops can be found at www.phillypops.org.
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops
Peter Nero, conductor and pianist
Kelli O’Hara, vocalist
Aaron Lazar, vocalist
Tickets: $20-$70 (general admission lawn tickets: $10), 215.893.1999 or www.manncenter.org
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