RESPECT! HONOURING ARETHA

Friday 21 February 2020 / 7:30PM Saturday 22 February 2020 / 7:30PM Jack Singer Concert Hall Pops

PROGRAMME

Earl Lee, conductor Capathia Jenkins, vocals Ryan Shaw, vocals Calli Graver, backup vocals Nick Trawick, backup vocals Deshana Wooden, backup vocals

Programme to be announced from stage. Performance includes a 20-minute intermission.

5 THINGS ABOUT ARETHA FRANKLIN

1. Aretha Franklin started out singing in the gospel choir at her Baptist church in Detroit,

Michigan — her father was the minister and took Aretha on the road during his

‘gospel caravan’ tours. 2. In 1960 at age 18, Aretha started her career as a recording artist. In 1967,

Respect became her first chart-topping single. By the end of that decade, she had earned the title ‘Queen of Soul.’ 3. Aretha won 18 Grammys, had 112 singles on the

Billboard charts, and sold over 75 million records worldwide. She was the first female performer inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was the most charted female artist in history until 2017, when she was passed by Nicki Minaj. 4. Aretha was active in the fight for civil rights and women’s rights, supporting causes, speaking up, and performing at benefits. In 2017, Aretha and other prominent musicians declined to take part in

President Donald Trump’s inauguration. 5. Following her death in 2018 at age 76, the Pulitzer

Prize jury awarded Franklin a special citation “for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades.”

EARL LEE Conductor

An Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and former RBC Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Earl Lee is a renowned KoreanCanadian performer who creates powerful experiences for audiences worldwide. Lee’s passion for music is reflected in his career as both a conductor and a cellist, appearing at major concert halls across the globe. Highlights from 2018/2019 include leading the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, return engagements with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and debut performances with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Lee was the recipient of the 50th Anniversary Heinz Unger Award from the Ontario Arts Council in 2018. In 2013, he was one of two performers to receive the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship, and was awarded the Ansbacher Fellowship by the American Austrian Foundation and members of the Vienna Philharmonic. Lee has degrees in cello from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. He began his conducting studies in 2010 with Ignat Solzhenitsyn, and received his master’s in 2013 from the Manhattan School of Music with George Manahan. He pursued postgraduate studies in conducting at the New England Conservatory with Hugh Wolff prior to his tenure with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

CAPATHIA JENKINS

Vocals

Brooklyn-born and raised actress Capathia Jenkins recently starred as Medda in the hit Disney production of Newsies on Broadway. She has also performed on Broadway in The Civil War, The Look of Love, Caroline, Or Change, and Martin Short — Fame Becomes Me, where she sang Stop the Show and brought the house down every night. Jenkins starred Off-Broadway in the revival of Godspell and (mis) Understanding Mammy, for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination. Jenkins was also seen on the live NBC production of The Wiz. An active concert artist, Jenkins has appeared with orchestras around the world, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch), Philly Pops, Cincinnati Pops, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. She returned to Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops in December 2019 and sang in a Marvin Hamlisch tribute at the Library of Congress. Her latest concert, a tribute to Aretha Franklin, is being performed with symphonies throughout the United States. Jenkins can be heard on the film soundtracks for Nine, Chicago, and Legally Blonde 2.

RYAN SHAW

Vocals

Ryan Shaw is a three-time Grammynominated artist. He recently appeared as Judas at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the U.S. premiere of the critically acclaimed London/Regent’s Park’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which won the Olivier for Best Musical Revival. He also starred as the original Stevie Wonder in Motown: The Musical on Broadway, and on London’s West End as the Soul of Michael Jackson in Thriller Live. As a recording artist, Shaw has toured the world and shared the stage with such artists as Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, Joss Stone, John Legend, B.B. King, Bruce Hornsby, and Jill Scott, to name a few. As a concert soloist, Shaw made his Radio City Music Hall debut at the Dream Concert benefit to build the Martin Luther King Jr. National Monument in Washington, D.C. He has numerous Carnegie Hall appearances, and was honoured to be the second artist in history to be asked to perform a return engagement at the Central Park SummerStage gala (second to Stevie Wonder). Upcoming concert engagements include the Cleveland Orchestra, Philly Pops, Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Springfield (Ohio) Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and many others.