LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Friends, Where does the time go? December flew by — in what was, by all measures, our most successful Christmas to date. We kicked the holiday season off with Uptown Christmas at The Met Philadelphia, packed the stage of the Kimmel for another spectacular run of A Philly POPS Christmas, and celebrated the holidays in an exciting new way with The Philly POPS Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia. Tonight’s show starts the new year off perfectly… with love. Our Music Director Todd Ellison has carefully assembled this program to pay tribute to his longtime mentor and friend: Marvin Hamlisch. Here to help us celebrate Marvin’s achievements and legacy is returning POPS fan favorite Ashley Brown. Another exciting note for tonight’s performances are the POPS debuts of four very talented Temple theater students: Isabel Robin, Alexa Joseph, Alana Robinson, and Jordan Hayes. I can tell you that tonight’s performance will surely be full of memorable moments and surprises. In the coming months, we will celebrate the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and rock out to one of the greatest icons of the ‘80s, Phil Collins. Then, we’ll head back up Broad Street to The Met Philadelphia for Disney’s Broadway Hits — which will feature original Disney Broadway stars (including Ashley Brown!) performing the show tunes that made them famous. It’s another night at The Met you can’t miss. As is our tradition, we’ll be announcing our 2020–2021 season in a few short weeks, on February 14. Stay tuned for more on what will be another season of exciting firsts! With great appreciation for your continued support,
Frank Giordano, President and CEO Encore Series, Inc., The Philly POPS
4 | Encore! | The Philly POPS
