GLEE's Darren Criss Joins Yale Whiffenpoofs for P.S. Arts Benefit Concert Tonight

The Yale Whiffenpoofs, the nation's premier vocal group and stage and screen star Darren Criss - best known for his role on the Fox TV hit GLEE - will headline a concert to benefit P.S. Arts, which helps bring arts education to underserved public schools. Presented by the Association of Yale Alumni and the Yale Whiffenpoofs Alumni Association the evening will take place tonight, April 14, 2013 at 5:00 PM at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. The Yale Whiffenpoofs and special guest Darren Criss will perform a cappella and choral renditions of American jazz classics, contemporary pop hits, and more.

"I'm excited to team up again with the gentlemen of the Yale Whiffenpoofs for another great evening of music. P.S. Arts has done an amazing job of bringing arts education to public schools and I am thrilled that our concert will be helping their cause," said Criss.

One of three annual benefit concerts produced in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco by the Association of Yale Alumni and the Yale Whiffenpoofs, this event brings together the talents and resources of notable alumni and student groups from Yale and NYU along with the internationally renowned Young People's Chorus of New York City. Previous celebrity guest-performers have included Idina Menzel, Deborah Cox, Zooey Deschanel, Christine Ebersole and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

The Broad Stage is located at 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica, Calif. Tickets: $50 - $125 (with VIP Packages available) For ticket inquiries, call (310) 434-3200 or visit www.thebroadstage.com/yale_whiffenpoofs.

In the summer of 2010, the Yale Whiffenpoofs performed at an Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation HIV clinic in Kenya and, inspired by the organization's work, pledged to support their critical efforts. The Association of Yale Alumni (AYA) was eager to help. It constantly calls upon alumni to effect change in their communities through programs like the annual International Day of Service, Summer Institute for the Arts, Yale Alumni Service Corps, and regular local service. While each initiative provides needed volunteers for numerous organizations around the globe, in this economic climate organizations are in dire need of not only personnel, but also financial assistance. Therefore, AYA fills this need by leveraging Yale talent and connections to host benefit concerts in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, raising tens of thousands of dollars for causes like arts education and combating school bullying. This year, the Yale Alumni Association begins a partnership with the Youth Aware Program. The Whiffenpoofs are proud to partner with AYA in supporting these important causes.

In the Spring of 1991, Dr. Paul Cummins, renowned educator, author, and founder of Crossroads School in Santa Monica began a conversation with distinguished musician Herb Alpert, which led to the founding of P.S. ARTS. P.S. ARTS was created in response to significant education budget cuts in the1970s and 1980s, which cut local tax revenues for public schools and resulted in the systematic reduction and elimination of arts programs in California public schools. P.S. ARTS has grown from serving 285 students in one school, to more than 11,000 students in 26 underserved schools across Los Angeles County and California's Central Valley, and nearly 4,500 more children through our strategic partnership programs. For the past twenty years, P.S. ARTS has provided nationally recognized arts instruction programs to tens of thousands of students attending underserved public elementary and middle schools in our community.

Every year, 14 senior Yale men are selected to be in the Whiffenpoofs, the world's oldest and most famous collegiate a cappella group. Founded in 1909, the "Whiffs" began as a senior quartet that met for weekly concerts at Mory's Temple Bar, the famous Yale tavern. Today, the group has become one of Yale's most celebrated and hallowed traditions, maintaining a performance schedule of 150-200 concerts annually in addition to recording an album and embarking on a three-month, twenty-five country world tour. The group has performed for the likes of Presidents Bush 1, Bush 2, and Clinton, Mother Teresa, Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight, and Elvis Presley, in sold- out venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center, and for such events as the Rose Bowl, "SNL", "The Today Show", "The West Wing", and NBC's "The Sing-Off."

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