Peter Nero to lead Philly Pops through 2014
09/18/2008POPS! On Independence
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops® celebrates America’s birthday with “POPS on
Independence,” the annual free concert at Independence Hall, Friday, July 3, at 8:30 p.m. One of
Philadelphia’s most popular Fourth of July traditions, “POPS on Independence” features the Voices of
The POPS, and a stirring reading of the Declaration of Independence by “Thomas Jefferson.” The concert is part of Sunoco Welcome America!
“POPS on Independence” celebrates the birth of our nation with a free performance of great
American music, including stirring patriotic anthems, rousing marches, and the quintessentially American
sounds of big band, Broadway, and film scores. Seating is first come, first served, and the concert will be
performed without intermission. This annual concert has traditionally drawn a picnic-loving crowd and as in previous years, the audience is encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs, and picnic baskets to the lawn of Independence Mall and celebrate America’s birthday with “the best orchestra of its kind in the entire cosmos.”
The Best of Bernstein and the Riches of Rodgers
Peter and The POPS return to The Mann Center for the Performing Arts for an evening of music under the stars (July 22). The Best of Bernstein and the Riches of Rodgers celebrates the
music of two of the most successful and celebrated composers of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein
and Richard Rodgers. These legendary composers each accomplished a rare musical feat—they captured
their time and became iconic voices of their ages like no other. Now, Peter Nero has created a special
evening honoring these two musical legends with selections from Candide, South Pacific, The King and I,
Oklahoma, and more. As a special bonus, concertgoers will also be treated to songs and orchestrations of
works of another legendary composer—Andrew Lloyd Webber! Vocalists Christiane Noll and Doug
LeBrecque return to The POPS for this one-night event.
Tickets for this concert are available by phone at 215.893.1999 or online at www.manncenter.org.
Peter Nero
“If the perfect pops conductor could be conjured, … he might answer to this description,” wrote Philadelphia Inquirer music critic Peter Dobrin. “Huge talent with polymath abilities and catholic tastes. Musician who actually enjoys giving audiences what they want. Plays piano like a dream. … [H]e might look something like Peter Nero.”
“Nero … plays with the energy of a 20-year-old rock and roll drummer,” noted the Palm Beach Daily News on March 26, 2008. “His Juilliard training shows in the cleanliness of his technique and in his
control of the tone of the piano. His technical arsenal includes brilliant passage work, rapid bass lines,
arpeggio-like figures ascending and descending, and subtle dynamic variations. His fast playing is thrilling,
and his slow playing is marked by a beautiful lyricism.”
“Nero’s love for the idiom, of course, couldn’t be clearer, and it’s hard to fault his touch, tone production and technical facility, all bespeaking a high level of achievement,” said David Adler of the
Philadelphia Inquirer of Nero during a recent solo performance in April 2008.
“At a Pops concert, it’s easy to get swept away by the crash of the orchestra or the dazzle of a guest artist, yet when Mr. Nero sits down to do what he does best, we can appreciate that all these things
originate from the man on the piano bench,” wrote Lindsay Warner of the Bulletin. A two-time Grammy®-Award winner and 10-time nominee, Mr. Nero has built an impressive
career as a conductor, arranger, composer, and master pianist. For his ability to pick just the right material, he most recently was dubbed “Dr. Feelgood.” Named “the epitome of the Pops
Conductor/Performer” by the Washington Post, Mr. Nero won the Grammy® Award for “Best New Artist” in 1961, another in 1962 for Best Performance and Arrangement by an Instrumentalist, and since
that time has garnered 10 additional nominations and released 68 albums. He also possesses an Emmy for his participation in the NBC special “S’Wonderful, S’Marvelous, S’Gershwin,” with Jack Lemmon as
host.
Mr. Nero’s recent guest performances include engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony, the
National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, the Charlotte Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the
Baltimore Symphony, among others. On January 27, 2007, he performed at the Academy of Music 150th
Anniversary Concert, joining rock icon Rod Stewart from the piano on “They Can’t Take That Away
from Me.” Maestro Nero was a guest soloist on Mr. Stewart’s second of four recordings, As Time Goes By
... The Great American Songbook, Vol. 2. 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
One of America’s premier pops orchestras, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops was founded in 1979 under the musical leadership of Peter 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.
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops has played a role in the City of Philadelphia’s Fourth of July celebration for over 25 years. On July 3, 2008, for the fifth consecutive year, Peter and The POPS
performed a free outdoor concert in front of Independence Hall. This immensely popular annual event,
which includes a musical tribute to all branches of the armed forces, draws thousands of attendees. This
year’s concert also featured Peter and The POPS performing music for the wedding of premier historic
re-enactors Ralph Archbold and Linda Wilde, better known to Philadelphians as Ben Franklin and Betsy
Ross. On July 4, 2006, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops performed a free outdoor concert on the
Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Their concert on the Parkway 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.
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops is celebrating its 30th anniversary during the 2008-09 season.
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.
Guest Artists
Hailed as “one of the most versatile actresses in the American musical theatre,” Christiane Noll made her Broadway debut starring in Jekyll & Hyde, creating the role of Emma. She received an Ovation
Award for her comedic turn as Hope Cladwell in the National Tour of Urinetown and wowed audiences
again as Vanna Vane in the new musical The Mambo Kings. Most recently, she appeared as Jane Smart in
the American premiere of The Witches of Eastwick. Ms. Noll has been a frequent guest soloist as part of
Bravo Broadway! with symphony orchestras around the world, including the National Symphony, the
Cincinnati Pops, the Jerusalem Symphony, and Peter Nero and the Philly Pops. She has also performed
with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Sinfonica
Brasileira in Rio. She has released three solo CDs, Christiane Noll—A Broadway Love Story, The Ira Gershwin
Album, and Live at the Westbank Café. She supplied the singing-voice of Anna in the Warner Brothers
animated feature The King and I, and starred on Broadway in It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues.
Ms. Noll was critically acclaimed for her operetta performances as Marianne in City Center ENCORES! The New Moon and Kathie in The Student Prince. Other favorite roles include The Baker’s Wife
in Into the Woods, Mabel in Mack & Mabel, Lizzie in Lizzie Borden, Genevieve in The Baker’s Wife, Carrie in
Carousel, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She starred in the premieres of Frankenstein (37 ARTS), The
Piper (NY Music Theatre Festival), Kept (Krieger/Russell), Take Flight (Maltby/Shire), Call the Children
Home (Primary Stages), and Little By Little and A Fine and Private Place (York Theater).
Ms. Noll has been a member of the national tours of Grease! as Sandy, Miss Saigon as Ellen, and
City of Angels as Mallory/Avril as well as a tour of Australia and Thailand as Nellie in South Pacific. She
made her opera debut as Valencienne in The Merry Widow with Plácido Domingo and the Washington
National Opera at the Kennedy Center, and her Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson, in his last
pops performance, as one of the 3 Broadway Divas with the New York Pops. Ms. Noll has performed
her solo cabaret show at the Plush Room, the Duplex, Arci’s Place, the China Club, Peaches, B. Smith’s,
and the West Bank Café; she is also a featured member of the Broadway Inspirational Voices/Gospel
Choir.
Doug LaBrecque has thrilled theater audiences as the Phantom and Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera and has starred as Ravenal in the revival of Showboat on Broadway.
An active concert performer, Mr. LaBrecque has been a soloist with many symphony orchestras
across the country, including the National Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch), the Chicago Symphony,
the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Dallas Symphony,
the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, and the Cincinnati Pops, among
others.
Mr. LaBrecque’s international engagements have included appearances with the Israel Philharmonic, the Korean National Symphony, the Shanghai Radio Orchestra, the Brazilian
Symphony, the Jerusalem Symphony, and the Vancouver and Calgary symphonies in Canada. He recently
traveled to Italy as a guest soloist in an all-Bernstein concert. In March 2007, he performed as a guest
soloist with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Marvin Hamlisch.
For more information about Mr. LaBrecque, including his 2005 solo CD, Opening Doors, visit www.douglabrecque.com.
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