Colorado Symphony 2017/18 Season Presenting Sponsor:
SYMPHONY POPS • 2017/18 QUEEN OF JAZZ: A TRIBUTE TO ELLA FITZGERALD COLORADO SYMPHONY CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, conductor CAPATHIA JENKINS, vocals AISHA DE HAAS, vocals HAROLYN BLACKWELL, vocals Tonight’s Performance is Gratefully Dedicated to Jack Finlaw and Greg Movesian
Saturday, September 30, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. Boettcher Concert Hall
Selections to be announced from the stage
SOUNDINGS 2017/18 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 1
SYMPHONY POPS BIOGRAPHIES CHRISTOPHER DRAGON, conductor Australian conductor Christopher Dragon is in his third season as the Associate Conductor of the Colorado Symphony and continues his position as Principal Guest Conductor with the Denver Young Artists Orchestra. For three years, Christopher previously held the position of Assistant Conductor with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, which gave him the opportunity to work closely with Principal Conductor Asher Fisch. Christopher works regularly in Australia and has conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. His 2015 debut performance at the Sydney Opera House with Josh Pyke and the Sydney Symphony has been released on CD by ABC Music. In 2017, Christopher returns to the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for a subscription concert. In 2016, he made his Brazilian conducting debut with the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre. He has also conducted at numerous festivals including the Breckenridge and Bangalow Music Festivals, both resulting with invitations to return. At the beginning of 2016, Christopher conducted Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony as part of the Perth International Arts Festival alongside Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra. In 2014, Christopher was selected from 100 international applicants to conduct the Princess Galyani Vadhana Youth Orchestra in Thailand and earlier that year participated in the Jarvi Winter Academy in Estonia where he was awarded the Orchestra’s Favourite Conductor Prize. Christopher began his conducting studies in 2011 and was a member of the prestigious Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program under the guidance of course director Christopher Seaman. He has also studied with numerous distinguished conductors including Leonid Grin, Paavo and Neeme Jarvi at the Jarvi Summer Festival, Fabio Luisi at the Pacific Music Festival, and conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula.
CAPATHIA JENKINS, vocals The Brooklyn-born and raised actress, Capathia Jenkins, most recently starred as “Medda” in the hit Disney production of Newsies on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in The Civil War, where she created the role of Harriet Jackson. She then starred in the Off-Broadway 2000 revival of Godspell, where she wowed audiences with her stirring rendition of “Turn Back, O Man” which can still be heard on the original cast recording. She returned to Broadway in The Look of Love and was critically acclaimed for her performances of the Bacharach/David hits. Ms. Jenkins then created the roles of “The Washing Machine” in Caroline, Or Change, and “Frieda May” in Martin Short-Fame becomes me where she sang “Stop the Show” and brought the house down every night. In 2007, she went back to Off-Broadway and starred in (mis) Understanding Mammy–The Hattie McDaniel Story, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Most recently she was seen in Nora Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore. An active concert artist, Ms. Jenkins has appeared with numerous orchestras around the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch), National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus, Toledo Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary PROGRAM 2 SOUNDINGS 2017/18 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG
SYMPHONY POPS BIOGRAPHIES Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, among many others. She will return this summer as a soloist with the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic for the third time. Capathia had the great honor of performing in the “Broadway Ambassadors to Cuba” concert as part of the Festival De Teatro De La Habana. Ms. Jenkins was the guest soloist with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and has several return engagements with the Cincinnati Pops. She will return to Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops in November 2015, and recently sang in a Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch at the Library of Congress. She has appeared several times at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the New York Pops. Her television credits include 30 Rock, The Practice, Law & Order SVU, The Sopranos, and Law & Order. She can be seen in the 2012 film Musical Chairs directed by Susan Seidelman. In December, Ms. Jenkins will be seen in The Wiz in a live performance on NBC. She can be heard on the following film soundtracks: Nine, Chicago, and Legally Blonde 2. She was recently featured in the live broadcast of The Wiz on NBC. www.capathiajenkins.com
AISHA DE HAAS, vocals Aisha de Haas is a versatile Broadway and jazz artist with the ability to sing in a variety of vocal styles. Most recently, Aisha toured North America as Medda Larkin in the 1st National Tour of Disney’s Newsies and is featured in the “live-capture” movie to be released in 2017. Graduating from Columbia College Chicago, where she was mentored by Sheldon Patinkin, Aisha’s professional career began with Little Shop of Horrors at the Royal George Theater, Four Saints In Three Acts with Chicago Opera Theater, and several productions at The Goodman Theater. She returned to New York, where she was cast in her first Broadway show, Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk with Savion Glover. This was immediately followed by the Tony Award-winning production of RENT and Caroline, Or Change. Off-Broadway, Ms. de Haas was seen in Nora Ephron’s Love, Loss And What I Wore, and Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show. Her television appearances include Shades of Blue, Blue Bloods, Law & Order, and The Today Show. Her movie roles include Across The Universe, RENT, The Secret Lives Of Dentists, and Marci X. Aisha’s voice has been heard on commercial jingles for Chef Boyardee, McDonald’s, The Lottery, and Cover Girl and several recordings including Dreamgirls In Concert, Caroline, Or Change, Chicago (the Motion Picture), Road Show, and PopJazz. A frequent soloist with symphony orchestras, Aisha played “Bloody Mary” in a concert version of South Pacific with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed with such artists as Oleta Adams, Patti Austin, Smokey Robinson, and Michael McDonald. Upcoming concert engagements include the Cleveland Orchestra, Youngstown Philharmonic, Ocean City Pops, and others. Aisha’s own show, Jazzer at Heart, is a tribute to the music she grew up with, the music her parents loved and played—The Great American Songbook. She has also performed at jazz clubs and festivals around the country.
SOUNDINGS 2017/18 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 3
SYMPHONY POPS BIOGRAPHIES HAROLYN BLACKWELL, vocals One of the brightest stars on stages in the U.S. and abroad, charismatic soprano Harolyn Blackwell has been hailed by audiences and critics alike as a “model of agility, spunk, charm and silvery tone.” Recognized for her expressive and exuberant performances, as well as for her radiant voice, she is making a wide and varied career on opera, concert, and recital stages of the world. Miss Blackwell’s performing career began on the Broadway stage in Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. The transition from musical theater to opera occurred shortly afterwards, when she was selected as a finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Since that time, the soprano has performed with many of the major national and international opera companies around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, where she has appeared in several productions, including La Fille du Régiment, Un Ballo in Maschera, and Le Nozze di Figaro, among many others. Miss Blackwell also starred in the Broadway Revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide as Cunegonde. A frequent concert artist, Miss Blackwell’s symphonic engagements include the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, and numerous others. Upcoming engagements include the Cleveland Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, and Ocean City Pops. Internationally, she has appeared with the NHK Symphony, Tokyo, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, and L’Orchestre National de Lyon. Miss Blackwell has appeared in a number of national telecasts including The Met’s Un Ballo in Maschera; The Grammy Awards (The New York Times’ Alan Kozinn called her Summertime “melting”), I Hear America Singing on PBS, and The 25th Anniversary Salute to the Kennedy Center as well as the Kennedy Center Honors. To date, Miss Blackwell’s recordings include the role of Clara in the Glyndebourne Festival’s Porgy and Bess (EMI), Cunegonde in the Broadway cast album of Candide (RCA-Victor), The London Symphony Orchestra’s Ein Deutsches Requiem (LS0), two solo albums: Strange Hurt (RCA-Victor) and Blackwell Sings Bernstein (RCA-Victor). She is also featured on: Selections from Porgy and Bess (Telarc), The Canadian Brass: Noel (RCA-Victor); and Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (RCA-Victor). Miss Blackwell appears courtesy of Encompass Arts, LLC.
PROGRAM 4 SOUNDINGS 2017/18 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG