About Press Room Winter in Minnesota transforms into Springtime in Paris, March 3Winter in Minnesota transforms into Springtime in Paris, March 3
Concert features instrumentalists Gil Gutiérrez and Patrick Harison; vocalists Kersten Rodau and Robb Asklof
U.S. Bank Pops Season
(February 2, 2012) Orchestra Hall is transformed into the City of Lights in this concert that celebrates the romance of Paris. In a showcase of French music and composers, along with a salute to the artists who performed these classics, audiences can expect to hear the timeless melodies of singers Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker, composers Django Reinhardt and Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), singer-songwriters Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg and more. Instrumentalists Gil Gutiérrez and Patrick Harison perform, along with Twin Cities-based singers Kersten Rodau and Robb Asklof. Conducting is Principal Conductor of Pops and Presentations Sarah Hicks, who along with the Orchestra’s Director of Pops and Special Projects, Lilly Schwartz, conceived and produced the program.
The performance is slated for Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall on Saturday, March 3, at 8 p.m. Ticket prices range from $22 to $50, with VIP seating at $60. For tickets, call Minnesota Orchestra Ticket Services at (612) 371-5656 or visit the Orchestra’s website, minnesotaorchestra.org.
Guitarist and composer Gil Gutiérrez has performed twice at Orchestra Hall with Doc Severinsen and the San Miguel Five, also known as El Ritmo de la Vida. His many projects include performances of his original compositions with the New York Choral Society; scoring such films as El Cochero, Una Causa Noble and El Alcázar de Chapultepec; and recording a new CD with Severinsen, due out in 2012.
Accordionist Patrick Harison, now making his Minnesota Orchestra debut, is also a composer and bandleader who has performed extensively in New Orleans, New York and his native Minnesota. He has been a member of the Panorama Jazz Band, Loose Marbles and the Baby Soda Jazz Band, which he co-founded, and has appeared at international festivals. In 2005 he won a McKnight Artist Fellowship.
Tenor Robb Asklof is a veteran of many Minnesota Orchestra productions, most recently “A Scandinavian Christmas” and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. He has sung with orchestras and opera companies across the U.S., including the Santa Fe Opera, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Orlando Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Western Plains Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Skylark Opera.
Singer-actress Kersten Rodau performed with the Minnesota Orchestra twice before, in Bernstein’s Mass in 2009 and Grieg’s Peer Gynt in 2007. This season she has played Emma Goldman in Park Square Theatre’s production of Ragtime. She has also appeared in productions of the Guthrie Theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Ordway Center, North Star Opera, Opera Roanoke and Bloomington Civic Theatre.
Sarah Hicks, the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal conductor of pops and presentations, has led a broad range of programs since joining the Orchestra as assistant conductor in 2006. Her current season includes appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and return engagements with the Florida Symphony Orchestra. This past summer she acted as conductor for Sting’s Symphonicities Tour, leading 31 concerts over two months in venues throughout Europe. In 2009 Hicks was appointed associate conductor of the North Carolina Symphony. She was earlier affiliated with the Richmond Symphony, Philadelphia Singers, Reading Symphony Orchestra and Florida Philharmonic.
U.S. Bank Pops Season
SPRINGTIME IN PARIS
with the Minnesota Orchestra
Saturday, March 3, 2012, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall
Minnesota Orchestra
Sarah Hicks, conductor
Robb Asklof, vocals
Kersten Rodau, vocals
Gil Gutiérrez, guitar
Patrick Harison, accordion
Program:
Stanley Edens/arr. George Maurer
Bonjour Paris, from Funny Face
Kersten Rodau and Robb Asklof
Django Reinhardt/Stéphane Grappelli/arr. Adi Yeshaya
Minor Swing
Gil Gutiérrez
Michel LeGrand/arr. Yeshaya
Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Louis Guglielmi/arr. Aaron Grad
La Vie en rose
Kersten Rodau
Joseph Colombo/Tony Murena
Indifférence
Patrick Harison
Francis Lai/arr. Maurer
Un Homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman)
Django Reinhardt/arr. Yeshaya
Daphne
Gil Gutiérrez
George Gershwin
An American in Paris
Jacob Gade/arr. Hedges
Jalousie
Patrick Harison
Claude Debussy/arr. André Caplet
Clair de lune
David Baerwald/arr. Maurer
Come What May, from Moulin Rouge
Kersten Rodau and Robb Asklof
Django Reinhardt/arr. Yeshaya
Nuages
Gil Gutiérrez
André Popp/arr. Maurer
L’amour est bleu (Love is Blue)
Kersten Rodau
Vernon Duke/arr. Chuck Sayre
April in Paris
Joseph Kosma/arr. Grad
Les feuilles morts (Autumn Leaves)
Robb Asklof
Charles Dumont/arr. Grad
Non, je ne regrette rien (No, I don’t regret anything)
Robb Asklof
Joseph Colombo/Tony Murena/arr. Hedges
Passion
Patrick Harison
Individual tickets are available for purchase through Minnesota Orchestra Ticket Services at 11th and Marquette in Minneapolis, online at minnesotaorchestra.org or by calling (612) 371-5656 or (800) 292-4141. For groups of 10 or more, call (612) 371-5662 or (800) 292-4141, ext. 662. Prices listed do not include a $5.75 service charge per transaction for all phone or mail orders. Save $1 by purchasing tickets online or by having the Orchestra e-mail your tickets. There are no service charges for subscribers, group purchasers or in-person transactions at the Orchestra Hall Box Office. A non-discountable $3.50 facility fee is included in the price of each individual ticket. No refunds. Some fees and restrictions may apply to ticket exchanges. All sales are final. All programs, artists, dates, times and prices subject to change.
U.S. Bank is the official sponsor of the 2011-12 pops season.
Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2011-12 season.
The Star Tribune and 830 WCCO-AM are the Minnesota Orchestra’s media partners for the 2011-12 season.
This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the State’s general fund and its arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Gwen Pappas, Director of Public Relations
(612) 371-5628 •
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Sandi Brown, Public Relations Coordinator
(612) 371-5641 •
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