2014/15 Season Colorado Symphony Pops Series presented by Arrow Electronics
POPS • 2014/15 ANIMANIACS LIVE! COLORADO SYMPHONY SCOTT O’NEIL, resident conductor RANDY ROGEL, writer ROB PAULSEN, Yakko and Dr. Scratch ‘n’ Sniff JESS HARNELL, Wakko TRESS MACNEILLE, Dot JULIE AND STEVE BERNSTEIN, composers Friday, September 26, 2014 at 7:30 pm Boettcher Concert Hall
ACT I
ACT II
Variety Speak
L.A. Dot
Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
Yakko’s Universe
Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
Wakko’s America
Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
There’s Only One Of You Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
Several Drops Of Rain Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
Music traditional. Lyrics by Randy Rogel
You Can Be Anything You Want Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
The Invasion Song Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
A Quake! A Quake! Music by Robert Schumann Lyrics by Randy Rogel
When You’re Traveling From Nantucket Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
I’m Cute Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
Hello Nurse Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
I’m Mad! Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
Noel
People Wanted Pepper On Their Food Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
That Is The Story That’s Told By The Bard Music by J.S. Bach Add’l music and Lyrics by Randy Rogel
I Can’t Believe You Stabbed Me In The Back Music and lyrics by Randy Rogel
Animaniacs Theme Song Lyrics by Tom Ruegger Music by Richard Stone
Music traditional. Lyrics by Randy Rogel
Yakko’s World Music traditional. Lyrics by Randy Rogel Music Preparation: Bob Joles Produced by: Randy Rogel, Rob Paulsen and Pat Brady - CESD
SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 1
POPS BIOGRAPHIES SCOTT O’NEIL, resident conductor This is Scott O’Neil’s ninth season with the Colorado Symphony, and his fourth full season as resident conductor. O’Neil maintains a strong commitment to making music of the highest quality accessible to young audiences. He served as associate conductor for the Utah Symphony, which he joined in August 2000. O’Neil studied piano performance at the Oberlin College Conservatory, served as the assistant conductor of the Eastman School Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras at the Eastman School of Music, and earned a master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Rice University, where he was the director of the Campanile Orchestra, a community/university orchestra. In the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by the League of American Orchestras (LAO) to conduct an orchestra comprised of members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and advanced students from the University of Southern California in Synergy, a program created to promote young, contemporary composers. O’Neil is prominently featured with the Colorado Symphony as conductor and creator of the Inside the Score series, in addition to appearances on each of the Masterworks, Family, Pops and Holiday Series.
RANDY ROGEL, writer Randy has won three Emmy Awards (nominated for ten), a Peabody Award, two Annie Awards, three Leo Awards, and the Ovation Award. He recently co-wrote the hit song Poisonous Love for Kristen Chenoweth with John Powell for the major motion picture Rio 2. He was show-runner for the animated series 1001 Nights and won Leo awards for Writing and Best Animated Series. At Disney, Randy wrote songs and scripts for the animated movies Peter Pan-Return to Neverland, Cinderella II, Cinderella III, Winnie the Pooh, Around the World in Eighty Days, The Three Musketeers, and 101 Dalmatians II. Randy spent nine years on staff at Warner Bros. Animation where he began as an original writer on the Batman series and then joined the staff of Steven Spielberg’s Animaniacs, for which wrote most of the songs and many of the scripts. Randy is a West Point graduate with ten years service as an officer in the combat arms. He has a B.S. in Engineering from the academy and a Masters Degree in International Relations from Boston University.
PROGRAM 2 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG
POPS BIOGRAPHIES ROB PAULSEN, voice actor Born in Detroit, Rob Paulsen spent his childhood in Livonia and Rochester, attending Junior and Senior high school in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Rob loved cartoons like most kids but aspired to be a professional hockey player. “Fortunately, thanks to some big, strong, kid from Winnipeg who drilled me so hard my ears are still ringing, I learned around the age 18 I had neither the talent nor the temperament to make a living playing hockey. So, I turned to my other passions: singing and acting.” The goal of bringing absolute believability to a character, live-action or animated, is what every actor strives for. Those who are committed to their career and who combine experience, passion and skill are likely to succeed. With over 2,000 half-hours of animation credits, Rob’s versatility shines in his starring roles as the voices of Donatello (Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Yakko Warner, Pinky and Dr. Scratch ‘n’ Sniff in the Peabody and two-time Emmy award-winning series Animaniacs. As passionate about “paying it forward” as he is about his lucrative career, Rob supports various charities, particularly those benefiting children and military veterans. In his leisure time, Rob enjoys golf, cruising the PCH, and occasionally lacing up his skates for another chance to relive his past glory on the rink. He spends the majority of his free time with his wife, Parrish, and their Yorkshire terriers, Pooshie and Tala. “Laughter’s the best medicine: the cool thing is, you can’t OD and the refills are free.”
JESS HARNELL, voice actor Named by Variety magazine as one of the top ten voice actors in the business, the Emmy-nominated Jess Harnell is one of the best and busiest. Jess has appeared on practically every animated series on TV and has had dozens of starring roles, he has dozens of starring roles, including “Captain Hero” on Drawn Together, Chilly and The Wicked King on Doc McStuffins, Cedri” on Sofia The First and of course Wakko on Animaniacs. Jess’ voice has been heard on countless popular prime time series as well, including announcing shows such as America’s Funniest Home Videos for the last 14 years. Jess is currently the lead singer in the acclaimed 80’s metal/pop mash-up band and Youtube sensation “Rock Sugar,” sharing stages with such rock legends as AC/DC, Slash and Aerosmith. Just a few of Jess’ film credits include Finding Nemo, the Toy Story franchise, and Up as well as his being the only voice actor to voice two major characters in the Transformers films. One of the top celebrity voice matches in the business, Jess perfectly mimics over 150 celebrities—both speaking and singing—from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ozzy Osbourne, Elvis Presley to all four Beatles, Albert Brooks to Christopher Walken, Steve Perry to Willie Nelson and Pee Wee Herman to Rodney Dangerfield. “If it’s related at all to the voice, I’d like to believe I can do it. And if I can’t, I’ll work on it until I figure out a way that I can.”
SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 3
POPS BIOGRAPHIES TRESS MACNEILLE, voice actor Tress is enjoying a long and varied career in the wonderful world of voiceover acting. She is best known for her performances as Dot in Animaniacs and Babs Bunny in Tiny Toon Adventures, as Daisy Duck, The Queen of Hearts, Chip (of ‘n Dale), Merryweather (The Fairy Godmother) and many other iconic voices for Disney as well as Mom and other character voices for Futurama. Wilma Flintstone, Rosie the Robot, Rugrats, The Land Before Time, Veggie Tales, Peabody and Sherman and numerous other film and TV projects all keep Tress happily occupied. This year Tress celebrates over 25 years providing hundreds of character voices, vocals and impressions for The Simpsons. Tress’ Peabody Award is safely encased in Lucite.
JULIE AND STEVE BERNSTEIN, composers Composers of concert music and music for television and films, Julie and Steve Bernstein have worked together and separately on hundreds of episodes of TV animation. They’ve been recognized for their work with nine Emmys. Their music for animation includes Animaniacs, Pinky & the Brain, Freakazoid, Histeria!, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Baby Looney Tunes, Make Way for Noddy, Tiny Toon Adventures, Toonsylvania and more. The Bernsteins co-composed the scores for the features “Would I Lie to You?”, “Song of David”, “Tom and Jerry Blast Off to Mars”, “Baby Looney Tunes: Egg-‐straordinary Adventure” and the Animaniacs feature “Wakko’s Wish”. Steve’s orchestrations can be heard in the films The Amazing Spiderman, Spiderman 3, The Spiderwick Chronicles and the non-‐spider-‐themed movies Skyfall, The Perfect Storm, Windtalkers, Supernova and others. Julie’s arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “Little Green” for the Turtle Island String quartet and Tierney Sutton is featured on Ms. Sutton’s Grammy®-‐nominated CD After Blue. Steve and Julie produced the CD Tweety’s High-‐Flying Adventure, featuring their music and lyrics alongside those of Randy Rogel’s. Julie and Steve have enjoyed many fine performances of their orchestral, choral and chamber concert works. Most recently, their first concert music collaboration, “Snapshots”, received Honorable Mention in the IAWM’s Miriam Gideon composition competition. Julie and Steve are thrilled to once again be teamed up with Randy, Rob, Tress and Jess. It’s a Dream Team! [Incidentally, Steve sang at the opening concert of Boettcher Concert Hall. Is he excited to be back in his home town? You Boettcher life!
PROGRAM 4 SOUNDINGS 2014/15 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG