Philadelphia’s premier holiday event also features special guests Lauren Kennedy, The POPS Festival Chorus, and combined gospel choir

Once again, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops^® brings 10 performances of its annual favorite, Holiday POPS!, to Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.  Combining beloved seasonal pops classics, glorious gospel music, and the traditional favorite sing-along, these concerts are a marvelous way for the whole family to enjoy the holidays together.  Broadway star Lauren Kennedy joins as special guest, along with organist Peter Conte and The POPS Festival Chorus.  The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir and the Lisa Bray Wilson Chorale return with their incredible gospel vocals.  Holiday POPS! performances take place in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on December 13, 15-16, and 18-23, 2006 (see listing calendar for concert times). 

Two-time Grammy Award-winner 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’s recent guest performances include engagements with the Toledo Symphony and the National Arts Centre Symphony in Ottawa. He makes upcoming appearances with the Charlotte Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony, among others. 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.

Lauren Kennedy recently completed a run as Lady of the Lake in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Spamalot.  She also starred opposite Val Kilmer in The Ten Commandments at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, and has appeared on Broadway in Les Misérables (Fantine), Sideshow (Daisy Hilton), and Sunset Boulevard (original cast).  In London, Ms. Kennedy has appeared as Nellie in Trevor Nunn’s Royal National Theatre production of South Pacific.  Her other theater credits include The Last Five Years (originated Cathy), The Rhythm Club (originated Petra), White Christmas (originated Judy Haines), Hot Shoe Shuffle (originated Maddy), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (originated Holly Golightly), Nine (Carla/Paper Mill), Evita (Eva/North Carolina Theatre), Chess (Florence/Alliance), Good News (Corda/Music Theatre of Wichita/world premiere), and Jekyll and Hyde in concert (Emma).  Ms. Kennedy appeared in the film Lost in Yonkers and can be heard on the original London cast recording of South Pacific, as well as on recordings of Sunset Boulevard, and Good News, among others.  Her debut solo album, Songs of Jason Robert Brown, is available on the PS Classics label in stores or by visiting www.laurenkennedy.com.

The POPS Festival Chorus is made up of community members who audition to sing with the ensemble and rehearse over an eight-week period.  The chorus is led by Jeffrey Kern, chorus director for Peter Nero and the Philly Pops. 

The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir represents the first African American Episcopal congregation in the United States founded in 1792.  The Gospel Choir, organized in 1991 under the direction of Waltier Blocker, consists of about 30 singers from six different churches in the Philadelphia area.  The ensemble has performed in numerous churches, halls, and synagogues along the East Coast, and has toured Costa Rica and the southern United States.  The Gospel Choir has performed at the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses New Artist Showcase and took part in the National Celebration and Moving Ceremony of the Liberty Bell to its new pavilion in October of 2003.  The choir appeared with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops at the 2005 Holiday POPS! concerts. 

The Lisa Bray Wilson Chorale is a group of gifted gospel singers who perform for seasonal events, productions, and special occasions.  The Chorale was founded by Lisa Bray-Wilson, a Philadelphia native with nearly two decades of experience as a vocalist, church musician, and choral director.  Ms. Bray-Wilson has been a featured soloist at numerous civic events and has formed and prepared gospel choirs for such public performances as the Marian Anderson Award and ABC/Boscov’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  She currently serves as the music ministry coordinator at Living by the Word Fellowship Church in Yeadon, PA. 

One of America’s premier pops orchestras, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops was founded in 1979 under the musical leadership of Mr. Nero, whose unique talents and innovative programming blending all musical genres have made their concerts widely popular in the pops world. POPS concerts run the gamut from great classics to jazz improvisation, big band to Broadway hits, ragtime to rock ‘n’ roll. Mr. Nero’s participation as piano soloist has been received with boundless enthusiasm and acclaim. Guest artists—both established stars as well as outstanding new vocalists from Broadway and the concert stage—join The POPS each season. The Voices of The POPS, the resident vocal group, has become a member of the Philly Pops family as well. 

Peter Nero and the Philly Pops is the Official Pops Orchestra of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a significant part of Philadelphia’s cultural scene. The POPS has produced continuously growing and loyal audiences and performs to regularly sold-out crowds as a resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. 

On July 4, 2006, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops performed a free outdoor concert on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Their concert there the previous Independence Day, featuring Sir Elton John, Patti LaBelle, and Bryan Adams, reached over a half million people. Other notables who have joined them for past city celebrations include James Earl Jones, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Ray Charles, Boyz II Men, and Dionne Warwick.

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. Peter and The POPS had the honor of performing at the opening of the National Constitution Center in 2003, and participating in National Public Radio’s nation-wide radio broadcast on July 4, 2002. Another highlight took place in April 2002, when Astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn made a guest appearance in a special performance of Peter’s original composition Voyage into Space. Peter and The POPS were featured on ABC-TV’s “Independence Day 2001,” a live, star-studded national broadcast, sharing the stage with such luminaries as Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Garth Brooks. 

More information about Peter Nero and the Philly Pops can be found at www.phillypops.org.