Pacific Symphony Opens 2018-19 Pops Season With Vanessa Williams

Pacific Symphony won't save the best for last in the opening of the 2018-19 Pops season with the sensational entertainment star Vanessa Williams. Led by Pops conductor, Richard Kaufman, the Symphony joins Williams to celebrate her career for two nights at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, with a program of her icon hits such as "That's Entertainment," "Dreamin'," "Love Is Love," and "Save the Best for Last." The Symphony will also play the Hollywood themes from the film scores of "Splash," "The Producers," "Young Frankenstein," "Blazing Saddles," "Animal House and Airplane."

This concert takes place Friday and Saturday, October 12-13 at 8 p.m. in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Single tickets Start at $45. For more information on the Pops Package, the concert or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit the website, www.PacificSymphony.org.

For over two decades, Williams has made her name known in almost all facets of the entertainment scene-music, film, television, and on the theatrical stage. In 2007, she was given a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame for her notable and prestigious career. In 2010, she was additionally recognized for her successful career of film, television, stage and recordings and her international achievement by the International Foreign Press Academy for the Mary Pickford Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry.

In music, she received a NAACP nomination for Outstanding Jazz Artist in 2009 for her album "The Real Thing," released by Concord Records. She has also earned several Grammy nominations with her albums "The Right Stuff," "The Comfort Zone" and "The Sweetest Days," including the single of Academy Award-winning status, "Colors of the Wind" from Disney's "Pocahontas." She also has two holiday albums among the array of her discography; "Star Bright" and "Silver & Gold," including the greatest hits album, "Vanessa Williams Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years" and a collection of 1970s love songs, "Everlasting Love."

In 1986, she starred in "Under the Gun" for her film debut and went on to work in features such as "Eraser," "Hoodlum," "Soul Food," "Dance With Me," Light It Up," "Shaft," "Johnson Family Vacation," "My Brother" "Somebody Like You," Disney's "Hannah Montana: The Movie," and Tyler Perry's "Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor."

Vanessa Williams began focusing on Broadway with the 1994 musical "Kiss of the Spider Woman," replacing Chita Rivera. She was recognized in 2002 with a Tony Award for her role as the Witch in "Into the Woods." She later worked in "Carmen Jones" at the Kennedy Center, "St. Louis Woman," an Encore! staged series and a 2010 Stephen Sondheim & James Lapines' production of "Sondheim on Sondheim" at The Roundabout Theatre. In 2013, she performed the role of Jessie Mae in the Tony-nominated production "The Trip to Bountiful," costarring with Cicely Tyson, later reprising this role for a television adaption for Black History Month in 2014.

Her most notable roles in television consisted of her work on the ABC series "Ugly Betty" as Wilhelmina Slater, which garnered her three Emmy nominations including individual and ensemble nominations and awards from SAG, Golden Globes and NAACP Image Award. Currently, Vanessa Williams will appear in the third season of the TNT series "The Librarians" and recently she is seen in the VH1 series "Daytime Divas" based on the Star Jones book "Satan Sisters" that premiered on June 5, 2017.

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