The New York Pops

Performers

• Kelli O'Hara, Guest Artist
• Michael Slattery, Tenor
• New York Theatre Ballet
  Diana Byer, Artistic Director
• Paulo Szot, Guest Artist
• The Clurman Singers
  Judith Clurman, Director
• The New York Pops
  Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor

Program

• Program is approximately 2 hours, including one intermission

Bios

• Kelli O’Hara
  
  Kelli O’Hara has established herself as one of Broadway’s great leading ladies. She recently starred in the Tony Award–winning revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, enrapturing audiences and critics alike with her soulful and complex interpretation of Nellie Forbush, and garnering a third Tony Award nomination in the process.
  
  A native of Oklahoma, Ms. O’Hara received a degree in opera and, after winning the State Metropolitan Opera Competition, moved to New York and enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Institute. She earned her first Tony and Drama Desk award nominations for her role in The Light in the Piazza in 2005. In 2006, she joined Harry Connick Jr. on Broadway in the Tony Award–winning production of The Pajama Game, for which she received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations.
  
  In addition to her critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2007 with The New York Pops, Ms. O’Hara has performed at Carnegie Hall with Barbara Cook; the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, with Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony Orchestra; at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic; and at Town Hall, Cooper Union, Joe’s Pub, and Café Carlyle. In addition, she performed at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors as part of the Barbra Streisand tribute.
  
  Among Ms. O’Hara’s film and television credits are Sex and the City 2, The Dying Gaul, the NBC pilots Blue Blood and All Rise, Alexander Hamilton on PBS, NUMB3RS on CBS, All My Children, and the upcoming animated series Car Talk, as well as numerous live performances on national television shows. Her recordings include South Pacific, the Grammy-nominated The Light in the Piazza and The Pajama Game, The Sweet Smell of Success, My Life with Albertine, Dream True, Jule Styne Goes Hollywood, and her solo album, Wonder in the World.
  
  Ms. O’Hara resides in New York with her husband Greg and their son Owen.

  More Info
  
  
• Michael Slattery
  
  Since graduating from The Juilliard School, Michael Slattery has enjoyed an exciting international career. He has worked with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Orchestre de Paris, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. Career highlights include Peter Sellars’s Tristan Project at Lincoln Center, the title role in Bernstein’s Candide at Royal Festival Hall in London, and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Staatsoper in Berlin, and at Glimmerglass Opera.
  
  His prizewinning recordings include Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne; Scarlatti’s Cecilian Vespers; Handel’s Atalanta, Saul, and Solomon; and Bernstein’s Candide. His solo discs The Irish Heart and Secret and Divine Signs received critical acclaim from Gramophone magazine and Five Star ratings from BBC Music magazine and ClassicFM. Forthcoming recordings include Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Samson, Britten’s Curlew River, and a disc of Dowland songs, among other projects.
  
  Engagements this season include performances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, as well as master classes at universities throughout the US.

  More Info
  
  
• New York Theatre Ballet
  
  Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director
  Christine Paolucci, Executive Director and Associate Artistic Director
  
  Founded in 1978 by Diana Byer, New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) pioneered one-hour ballet programming for children with its first production of The Nutcracker 25 years ago. NYTB has earned critical acclaim for its reconstruction and revivals of classic ballet masterworks, drawing on such innovative choreographers as Frederick Ashton, José Limón, Agnes de Mille, and Antony Tudor. While dedicated to restorations, NYTB also serves as a center for the creation and performance of new choreography suitable to its distinctive role as a national chamber ballet company. Recent choreographers include Chase Brock, Matthew Neenan, and Benoit-Swan Pouffer. New York Theatre Ballet and its training academy, Ballet School NY, have received recognition as a model community service program of national importance.

  More Info
  
  
• Paulo Szot
  
  One of the most celebrated and versatile baritones in the world, Paulo Szot has won wide acclaim as both an opera singer and as an actor. He currently stars in the Broadway revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater, and won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Emile de Becque. He also won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for his performance in South Pacific.
  
  Mr. Szot recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut in a new production of Shostakovich’s The Nose conducted by Valery Gergiev. Future opera appearances include his debut at the Opéra national de Paris as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, his Dallas Opera debut in the title role of Don Giovanni, and his debut at the Palau de les Artes in Valencia as Escamillo in Carmen, a role he will also sing for his debut at San Francisco Opera. In addition to his performances of South Pacific, he recently debuted with the New York Philharmonic in a concert conducted by Marvin Hamlisch, appearing alongside Liza Minnelli. Other recent engagements include Le Portrait de Manon at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Maria Golovin at the Spoleto Festival, Eugene Onegin and Così fan tutte for Opéra de Marseille, and Don Giovanni and La bohème for Opéra de Bordeaux.

  More Info
  
  
• The Clurman Singers
  
  The Clurman Singers have appeared with the New York Philharmonic, and on Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, among other major companies and venues. They have collaborated on performing and recording projects with such composers as Jason Robert Brown, Marvin Hamlisch, Marc Shaiman, Howard Shore, and Georgia Stitt. Members consist of adult volunteer and professional musicians along with school-age children; tonight’s performance features choral students from Mt. Olive High School in Flanders, New Jersey, led by director Matthew Vanzini. After this concert, The Clurman Singers will be renamed Essential Voices USA. They will perform as an ensemble of professional and volunteer singers of all ages, and will seek to educate new generations of musicians and music lovers in the exploration of connections between diverse musical genres.
  
  An Emmy-nominated conductor and vocal educator, Judith Clurman has worked with prestigious orchestras, dance companies, and music festivals, and has conducted commissions and premieres by America’s most revered composers. She has conducted several celebrated vocal ensembles, created Lincoln Center’s Annual Holiday Tree-Lighting Ceremony, and received a 2009 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction for the 39th season of Sesame Street. She served as director of choral activities at The Juilliard School from 1989 to 2007. She has also taught and conducted at Harvard University, England’s Cambridge University and Eton College, the Janáček Academy in the Czech Republic, and Italy’s Università d’Ancona. She is a member of the Special Classifications Committee and Awards Panel of ASCAP and edits her own choral series for G. Schirmer Music. Her current projects include serving as vocal consultant, coach, and chorus master for the New York City Ballet and preparing the launch of Essential Voices USA. She maintains an active coaching and teaching studio and is writing a book based on her choral and vocal seminars.

  More Info
  
  
• Steven Reineke
  
  Steven Reineke begins his tenure as Music Director of The New York Pops in the 2009–2010 season. Mr. Reineke conducts the orchestra’s annual concert series at Carnegie Hall as well as tours, recordings, and nationwide telecasts, including the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC. Mr. Reineke also begins as Principal Pops Conductor of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra in 2009–2010, and he retains that title with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he holds the title of Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, where for 15 years he served as a composer, arranger, and conducting protégé of the late celebrated pops conductor Erich Kunzel.
  
  Mr. Reineke’s recent guest-conducting appearances include the orchestras of Los Angeles, Toronto, Houston, Detroit, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Vancouver, and Edmonton. In 2009, he made his Boston Pops and Philadelphia Orchestra debuts, as well as his Asian debut conducting the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. In 2008, Mr. Reineke made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting The New York Pops 25th Birthday Gala. He made his Hollywood Bowl debut in 2007 with the multifaceted entertainer Wayne Brady, and returned there in 2008 to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition, Mr. Reineke conducted, arranged, and orchestrated the music for Mr. Brady’s orchestral show, and played the same role in his collaboration with rock legend Peter Frampton.
  
  As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Mr. Reineke’s arrangements have been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. Mr. Reineke’s symphonic works are performed frequently in North America, with recent performances by the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics.
  
  
  The New York Pops
  
  The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the US and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall, enjoying one of the highest subscription renewal rates of any series at Carnegie Hall. The New York Pops was founded by former NBC music director Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America’s rich musical heritage. In addition to performing at Carnegie Hall, The New York Pops tours throughout the world and gives free concerts in New York City parks. The orchestra’s media projects include annual appearances since 2005 in the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC, nationwide radio broadcasts, and numerous recordings. The New York Pops’ extensive education programs allow thousands of public schoolchildren to participate in concert and music-making experiences at Carnegie Hall and in schools throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

  More Info