NY Philharmonic and Warner Bros. to Present BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY, 5/15-16

The New York Philharmonic and Warner Bros. will present Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, a program celebrating classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons with the New York Philharmonic playing the music live while the animation is screened. Emmy Award winner George Daugherty will conduct in his Philharmonic debut, and Academy Award winner and New York Philharmonic Board Member Whoopi Goldberg will appear as a special guest. The concerts take place Friday, May 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 16 at 2:00 p.m.; and Saturday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony was created by George Daugherty and David Ka Lik Wong, and the New York Philharmonic's performances will celebrate the 25th anniversary of this concert's world premiere and subsequent international performances, beginning with Bugs Bunny on Broadway in 1990 at the Gershwin Theatre. The New York Philharmonic engagement also marks the concert's first return to New York City since then. The program includes, among many others, such iconic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies as What's Opera, Doc?, with music by Milt Franklyn based on Wagner operas; A Corny Concerto, in its first live New York performance, with music by Carl W. Stalling based on J. Strauss, Jr.'s Tales of the Vienna Woods and The Blue Danube; The Rabbit of Seville, with music by Carl W. Stalling based on Rossini's Overture to The Barber of Seville; and Rhapsody Rabbit, with music by Carl W. Stalling based on Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. These cartoons feature animation direction by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Matthew O'Callaghan, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, and others. The program will also include two new 3D-CGI cartoons from Warner Bros.: I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat and Coyote Falls.

In addition, costumed Looney Tunes characters will greet audience members in the Avery Fisher Hall lobby before the concerts and during intermission.

Following its 1990 World Premiere at the Gershwin Theatre, also conducted by George Daugherty and created by Mr. Daugherty and Mr. Wong, the concert has toured the world continuously, playing to millions of fans, with more than 100 orchestras ranging from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to The Philadelphia Orchestra, and at iconic venues ranging from The Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House. In 2010 Mr. Daugherty and Mr. Wong recreated Bugs Bunny on Broadway in a reimagined new version, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.