Michael Feinstein joins Marvin Hamlisch and the Pasadena POPS in a tribute to Cole Porter at the orchestra’s second summer concert of their first season at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 21.
The incomparable multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated Feinstein — master of the Great American Songbook — joins Hamlisch and the orchestra for an effervescent evening playing the songs of one of America’s most beloved musical icons, including “Anything Goes,” “Begin The Beguine,” “Can-Can,” “In the Still of the Night,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “It’s De Lovely,” “I Love Paris,” “Just One Of Those Things,” “Night & Day,” “So In Love,” and many more. Feinstein is an old-fashioned crooner with luxuriant vocals that meld the traditions of old and new, and is considered one of the premier interpreters of American standards.
“Michael and I are like brothers,” says Principal Pops Conductor Marvin Hamlisch, “and he’s really amazing. I kid him because he knows everything that ever happened to any composer. If you ask ‘How did Harold Arlen write “Over the Rainbow?” He’ll say, ‘Well, he was in his blue pajamas at the time, it was October 19th, and he had just eaten a meal.’ He just knows every thing about every composer.”
Smart and sophisticated but with a naughty boy’s streak for mischief, Cole Porter was in that rare echelon of songwriters who supplied both words and music. He roared through the 20’s dazzling the Paris social scene, dominated the Broadway stage through the 50’s, and remains wildly popular today with audiences of all ages humming along to his timeless songs.
Audiences can bring their own picnics or pre-order dining packages from Pasadena POPS’ dining partners Julienne, Marston’s and Porta Via; or sample an array of gourmet food trucks and enjoy the full beverage center. Ticket options include seating at spacious tables with fine linens or on the beautiful lawn for blankets and low back chairs. With large video screens, state of the art sound system and innovative stage design, everyone will experience the high quality production value that has become a signature of the Pasadena POPS. Venue upgrades include VIP restrooms, expanded onsite handicap parking; free general parking at the adjacent Westfield Santa Anita Mall with easy and convenient shuttle service to the Arboretum’s Main Entrance.
Tickets to the family friendly concert series are on sale now. Entrances to the Arboretum open at 5:30 for picnicking and Michael Feinstein In Concert begins at 7:30. Tickets start at $10 for children and $20 for adults. For tickets or more information, contact the Pasadena Symphony and POPS box office at www.PasadenaSymphony-Pops.org or call 626.793.7172.
Gates open at 5:30pm for picnicking | Concert begins at 7:30pm · Where: Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden; 301 N Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA · Price: Child tickets start at $10, adult tickets start at $20 · Parking: Free parking is available at the adjacent Westfield Santa Anita shopping center (complimentary shuttles will provide service between Westfield and the Arboretum’s main entrance). · Dining Options: Catered meals may be pre-ordered from Julienne, Marston’s, or Porta Via. Onsite purchase options will include an array of gourmet food trucks and a cash bar. Guests may also bring a picnic and beverages.
ABOUT MICHAEL FEINSTEIN
Michael Feinstein, the multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” is one of the premier interpreters of American standards. His 200-plus shows a year have included performances at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl as well as the White House and Buckingham Palace.
Feinstein has received national recognition for celebrating and preserving America’s popular song through the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative. Michael serves on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage. Feinstein serves as Artistic Director of the Center for the Performing Arts, a $170 million, three-theatre venue in Carmel, Indiana, which opened in January 2011. Starting in 2010, he also serves as the director of the Jazz and Popular Song Series at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Feinstein earned his fifth Grammy Award nomination in 2009 for his album The Sinatra Project. A new PBS concert special, The Sinatra Legacy, is currently airing across the country; The Sinatra Project, Volume II: The Good Life, its companion CD, was released on October 25.
Feinstein is working with MGM to turn The Thomas Crown Affair into a Broadway musical. His friendship with Nancy Reagan and concern for those suffering with the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s inspired the restoration of a 1911 Steinway piano that prominently displays the hand-written signatures of several former First Ladies; Feinstein first played the restored piano in the Ronald Reagan Library to commemorate the former president’s centennial birthday on February 6, 2011.
In 2003, Feinstein received his fourth Grammy nomination for his release Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, his first recording with a symphony orchestra. The year before, Rhino/Elektra Music released The Michael Feinstein Anthology, a two-disc compilation spanning the years 1987 to 1996 and featuring old favorites and previously unreleased tracks.
Michael’s own record label, Feinery, a Concord Records subsidiary, released The Livingston & Evans Songbook, featuring Feinstein and special guest Melissa Manchester.
Feinstein started playing piano by ear as a 5-year-old in Ohio. After high school, he worked in local piano bars, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. The widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant introduced him to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. Feinstein became Gershwin’s assistant for six years, which earned him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded.
Through his live performances, recordings, film and television appearances, and his songwriting (in collaboration with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Lindy Robbins and Carole Bayer Sager), Feinstein is an all-star force in American music.
ABOUT MARVIN HAMLISCH Marvin Hamlisch’s life in music is notable for its great versatility and substance. As composer, Hamlisch has won virtually every major award that exists: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards.
For Broadway he has written the music for A Chorus Line, which received the Pulitzer Prize, as well as They’re Playing Our Song, The Goodbye Girl and Sweet Smell of Success.
He is the composer of many motion picture scores including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. His prolific output of scores for films include original compositions and/or musical adaptations for Sophie’s Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men and a Baby, Ice Castles, Take the Money and Run, Bananas, Save the Tiger, and his latest effort The Informant!, starring Matt Damon, and directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Marvin Hamlisch holds the position of principal pops conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and POPS, Seattle Symphony and San Diego Symphony.
Mr. Hamlisch was Musical Director and arranger of Barbra Streisand’s 1994 concert tour of the U.S. and England as well as of the television special, Barbra Streisand: The Concert (for which he received two of his Emmys).
Hamlisch is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and Queens College. He believes in the power of music to bring people together. “Music can make a difference. There is a global nature to music, which has the potential to bring all people together. Music is truly an international language, and I hope to contribute by widening communication as much as I can.”
ABOUT THE PASADENA SYMPHONY AND POPS Recent Acclaim: “…Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony sent me straight to the thesaurus for more options to ‘enthusiasm.’ They include eagerness, fervor, passion, gusto, zeal, zest, keenness, excitement, fire. All will do. Vitality, drive, vivacity, dash, vim, gusto, brio, dynamism, verve and spirit are other suitable synonyms. You get the point.” – Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times. October 30, 2011
“…full of pulsating energy from first note to last… the strings were lushly resonant, the wind principals were at the top of their games, and the brass rang out with gleaming vigor.” – Robert Thomas, Pasadena Star News. November 2, 2011.
The Pasadena Symphony Association was founded in 1928 by Conductor Reginald Bland. Originally named the Pasadena Civic Orchestra, its first members were mostly volunteer musicians, many of whom were students of Bland. The annual operating budget was $3,500, which was funded entirely by the City of Pasadena.
The Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Southern California’s most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.
In the fall of 2007, the Pasadena Symphony incorporated the Pasadena POPS into its Association under the new name Pasadena Symphony and POPS. This merger created an expanded Classics and POPS series providing the community with a full spectrum of live symphonic concerts year-round. Starting summer 2012, the Pasadena POPS’ summer home will relocate to Los Angeles County Arboretum.
The Pasadena Symphony provides a musical experience like no other at the Ambassador Auditorium – known as the Carnegie Hall of the West. Internationally recognized, Presidential Medal of Arts Recipient, Maestro James DePreist, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association’s Artistic Advisor. The Pasadena POPS welcomed Marvin Hamlisch to the podium as its new Principal Pops Conductor on July 23, 2011.
A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region since 1972 through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra comprised of over 160 gifted middle school students from more than 40 schools all over the Southland. The PYSO most recently performed on several episodes of the popular television show GLEE.