Peter Nero and the Philly Pops’®
seasonal favorite, Holiday POPS!, returns
for 10 spectacular concerts11/08/2007Broadway star Lisa Howard, organist Peter Conte, tenor Bryan Hymel, the POPS Festival Chorus, two principal dancers from Russia’s Hermitage Ballet, and the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir make return appearances
POPS partners with Tastykake in the “Search for the 2nd Verse” jingle contest
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops’® seasonal favorite, Holiday POPS!, returns for 10 concerts this December. From beloved classics of the season to glorious gospel music, Holiday POPS! is the quintessential holiday treat and a superb way for the whole family to celebrate together. Broadway star Lisa Howard, organist Peter Conte, tenor Brian Hymel, two principal dancers from Russia’s Hermitage Ballet, the POPS Festival Chorus, and the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir join Peter Nero and the Philly Pops for this annual favorite!
Audience response to Holiday POPS! has been so incredible that two more matinee performances have been added this season. Performances take place in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on December 9, 12, 14-16, 19, 21-23, 2007 (see listing calendar for details).
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops partners with Tastykake in the “Search for the 2nd Verse” jingle contest. Held in conjunction with Tastykake’s holiday sponsorship of The Philly Pops, the contest seeks the next verse to follow the beloved and well-known advertising jingle, “Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake!” The grand prize winner will be invited to join Peter Nero and the Philly Pops for a special performance of the winning Tastykake jingle, newly arranged by Peter Nero, during the Holiday Pops! Performance on December 15, 2007. The competition is open to all local students ages 18 and under and entries can be submitted at www.tastykake.com or by mail.
Peter Nero
On January 27, 2007, Peter Nero 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.
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. “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. For his ability to pick just the right material, Mr. Nero 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, and since that time has garnered 10 additional nominations and released 67 albums. Mr. Nero’s recent guest performances include engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony, the National Arts Centre Symphony in Ottawa, the Charlotte Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony, among others. He 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 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.
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops has played a role in the City of Philadelphia’s Fourth of July celebration for over 20 years. On July 3, 2007, for the fourth consecutive year, Peter Nero and the Philly 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. 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 celebrated its 25th anniversary during the 2003-04 season and is looking forward to 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.
Special Guests
Lisa Howard returns to Peter Nero and the Philly Pops after performing in 2006’s Broadway Showstoppers. She was most recently seen on Broadway as Rona Lisa Peretti in William Finn’s Tony Award-winning musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, for which she received a Drama Desk Award (Best Ensemble). She has performed more of William Finn’s music in Broadway Close-Up’s More Infinite Joy and Even More Infinite Joy at Merkin Recital Hall and The William Finn Tribute at Second Stage. Ms. Howard also appeared in Stephen Schwartz, Magic to Do, another concert in the Broadway Close-Up series. Her one-woman show Inspiration was recently staged at Ars Nova in New York, and she was part of Broadway by the Year, a popular concert series at Town Hall, directed by The Producers’ Brad Oscar. Ms. Howard has toured with the national company of Les Misérables and performed around the country at such prominent regional theaters as St. Louis MUNY, Olney Theater Center, and Kansas City Starlight. Some of her favorite roles include Irene in Crazy for You, Joy the Stepsister in Cinderella, and Trina in Finn’s Falsettos. Ms. Howard is a graduate of the Cincinnati College/Conservatory of Music. For more information, visit www.lisahowardnyc.com.
Peter Richard Conte is grand court organist of Philadelphia’s Wanamaker Organ in Macy’s. When not touring, he performs on the six-manual, 28,000-pipe instrument twice daily, six days per week. The Wanamaker Organ is the largest fully-functioning musical instrument in the world. Mr. Conte was appointed grand court organist in 1989 and is the fourth person to hold that title since the organ was first played in 1911. He has been featured several times on National Public Radio and on ABC television’s Good Morning America and World News Tonight. His monthly radio show, The Wanamaker Organ Hour, airs on the first Sunday of each month, at 5:00 p.m., and can be heard via the internet at www.WRTI.org. Mr. Conte performs extensively throughout the United States and Canada. Locally, he has performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Delaware and Allentown symphonies. He also serves as choirmaster and organist of St. Clement’s Church, Philadelphia. Mr. Conte’s recordings appear on the Gothic, Dorian, JAV, and DTR labels.
New Orleans native Bryan Hymel, tenor, is a third-year resident artist at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, where he has sung Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Araquil in Massenet’s La Navarraise, and Max in Weber’s Der Freischütz. He has recently made debuts at Palm Beach Opera as Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and at the Wexford Festival Opera as the Foreign Prince in Dvo?ák’s Rusalka. He will soon reprise the role of the Foreign Prince at Boston Lyric Opera. Mr. Hymel has also recently covered the title role in Donizetti’s Dom Sébastien with the Opera Orchestra of New York. Recent and future engagements include Guido in Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy at the Bard Festival, Luigi in Puccini’s Iltabarro and Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with New Orleans Opera, and the tenor solos in Handel’s Messiah with Singing City in Philadelphia. Mr. Hymel is a graduate of Loyola University.
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 U.S., 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 2003. The choir has appeared with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops at the 2005 and 2006 Holiday POPS! concerts.
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops®
Holiday POPS!
Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
December 9 at 1:00 p.m. – Sunday afternoon
December 12 at 8:00 p.m. – Wednesday evening
December 14 at 8:00 p.m. – Friday evening
December 15 at 2:00 p.m. – Saturday afternoon
December 16 at 7:00 p.m. – Sunday evening
December 19 at 8:00 p.m. – Wednesday evening
December 21 at 2:00 p.m. – Friday afternoon
December 22 at 2:00 p.m. – Saturday afternoon
December 23 at 2:30 p.m. – Sunday afternoon
December 23 at 7:00 p.m. – Sunday evening
Peter Nero and the Philly Pops
Peter Nero, conductor and pianist
with Broadway star Lisa Howard
Peter Conte, organ
Bryan Hymel, tenor
Two Principal Dancers from Russia’s Hermitage Ballet
The POPS Festival Chorus
The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir (Waltier Blocker, director)
Single tickets: $26-$100, 215.893.1999 or www.phillypops.org
US Airways is the exclusive airline sponsor of Peter Nero and the Philly Pops.
CBS-3 is the television media sponsor of Peter Nero and the Philly Pops’ 2007-08 season.
B-101 is the radio media sponsor of Peter Nero and the Philly Pops’ 2007-08 season.
Tasty Baking Company is a supporting sponsor of Holiday POPS!
Print media support for Holiday POPS provided by the Courier-Post.
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