New York Pops Presents PINK MARTINI: JOY TO THE WORLD, 12/14 & 15

Tonight, December 14 and 15, 2012 at 8:00pm, The New York Pops will present an evening full of holiday cheer at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with Pink Martini: Joy to the World. Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the orchestra in a seasonal celebration featuring guest artists Pink Martini as they perform festive favorites from their album Joy to World.

The concert program will feature favorite holiday tunes like "The Little Drummer Boy," "Ocho Kandelikas," "Do You Hear What I Hear," and "We Three Kings." The performance will also include musical highlights from famed composers Maurice Ravel, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Irving Berlin.

The New York Pops' 30th season continues with a tribute to Sammy Cahn on March 8, 2013 and a celebration of Stephen Schwartz, composer of Wicked, on April 13, 2013. The season culminates with the orchestra's 30th Birthday Gala on April 29, 2013.

Pink Martini is a "little orchestra" that draws inspiration from all over the world – crossing genres of classical, jazz and old- fashioned pop. Founded by pianist Thomas Lauderdale in 1994, Pink Martini features 10-12 musicians and performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand, South America and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Symphony, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Year's Eve 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011; two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Governor's Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia; two sold-out concerts at Paris' legendary L'Olympia Theatre in 2011; and Paris fashion house Lanvin's 10-year anniversary celebration for designer Alber Elbaz in 2012.

Between 1997 and 2010, Pink Martini released five albums, all of which have gone gold in France, Canada, Greece and Turkey, including Joy to the World—a festive, multi-denominational holiday album featuring songs from around the globe. Pink Martini's 2011 album, 1969, has been certified platinum in Japan, reaching #2 on the Japanese charts with the Japan Times raving "the love and respect Saori Yuki and Pink Martini have for the pop tradition shines through on every track." The band has collaborated and performed with numerous artists, such as Jimmy Scott, Carol Channing, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Jane Powell, Henri Salvador, Chavela Vargas, Michael Feinstein, filmmaker Gus Van Sant, clarinetist and conductor Norman Leyden, Japanese legend Hiroshi Wada and the original cast of Sesame Street.

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, 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. The New York Pops also gives free concerts in New York City parks, performs interactive concerts for families, and has toured throughout the world. The New York Pops' extensive education programs allow thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in concert and music-making experiences at Carnegie Hall, public schools, community organizations, children's hospitals and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. A recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York Pops is a non-profit organization supported solely through the generosity of individual donations, institutional grants, corporate sponsorships and concert income.

Steven Reineke's boundless enthusiasm and exceptional artistry have made him one of the nation's most sought- after pops conductors, composers and arrangers. Mr. Reineke is Music Director and Conductor of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the newly appointed Principal Pops Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Mr. Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and in the past year he conducted the Boston Pops, The Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia. His extensive North American conducting appearances include Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, Edmonton and Detroit. As the creator of more than one hundred orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Mr. Reineke's work has been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently in North America. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands around the world. A native of Ohio, Mr. Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, where he earned bachelor of music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City.

Single tickets are priced from $37 to $108. Subscriptions to the 2012-2013 Carnegie Hall series are also available, at $165, $200, $260, $360, $490 and $540. Purchases can be made at the Carnegie Hall Box Office (57th Street and 7th Avenue) or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. Visit www.carnegiehall.org for more information.

Pink Martini: Joy to the World
Tonight, December 14, and Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 8:00PM,
Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
The New York Pops, Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor
Pink Martini 

Guest Artists:

Thomas Lauderdale, Piano
China Forbes, Vocals
Gavin Bondy, Trumpet
Dan Faehnle, Guitar
Phil Baker, Bass
Nicholas Crosa, Violin
Pansy Chang, Cello
Maureen Love, Harp
Timothy Nishimoto, Vocals and Percussion
Brian Lavern Davis, Congas, Drums, and Percussion
Derek Rieth, Congas, Bongos, and Percussion
Anthony Jones, Drums and Percussion

PROGRAM

Bolero - Maurice Ravel
Amado Mio - Doris Fisher/Allan Roberts
Little Drummer Boy -  Katherine Kennicott Davis
Congratulations (A Happy New Year Song) - Chen Gexin
We Three Kings - Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
Hang On Little Tomato - Thomas Lauderdale/China Forbes/Patrick Abbey
What'll I Do - Irving Berlin - Thomas Lauderdale/Robert Taylor
The Flying Squirrel - Gloria Shayne/Noël Regney
Do You Hear What I Hear? - Thomas M. Lauderdale/China Forbes
A Snow Globe Christmas - Traditional
Die Dorfmusik - Johannes Brahms
In Stiller Nact - Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II
The Lonely Goatherd - Danny Maseng
Elohai N'tzor - Flory Jagoda
Ocho Kandelikas - Giuseppe Verdi/Francesco Maria Piave
La Vergine Degli Angeli - Harold Arlen/Jack Yellen
Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again - Ted Koehler/ Milton Ager

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