Canadian Pianist Tops Pops Season Finale on May 2

In regular concerto engagements and recitals in major halls around the world, Canadian pianist Christine Mari Yoshikawa has quickly established herself as one of Canada’s most sought-after young pianists.

She will be the featured soloist during “Music of the Night,” the final concert of the season by The Panama City POPS, Saturday, May 2, 2009, 7:30 pm at the Arnold High School Auditorium.

Building on its best season yet, which has featured world premiers and guest composer appearances, The POPS will finish the schedule with a night replete with romantic overtones.

The evening’s highlight will be a twenty-minute POPS medley entitled, “A Tribute to Gershwin.” The arrangement, by composer Jack Jarrett of the Berklee College of Music, has been performed internationally.

“Gershwin’s music remains as some of the most popular work of the Twentieth Century,” comments Maestro Eddie Rackley. “What set Gershwin apart was his ability to manipulate forms of music into his own unique voice, and what makes this medley really special is Jack Jarrett’s masterful interpretation.” The POPS Chorale will accompany the orchestra for the ambitious finale.

“The entire evening will have the feeling of romance,” states Rackley, “even in the classical sections.” Concert-goers may expect to hear everything from Tchaikovsky to Kevin Kaska, whose “Golden Falcon Prelude” was premiered by The POPS in its season opener.

Mr. Kaska also wrote a commissioned piece for the Panama City Centennial concert entitled “Emerald Jubilee.” The piece received a rousing ovation. For the final concert Rackley decided
to include another arrangement by Kaska, “I’m Glad There is You,” the Sinatra standard whose new arrangement was commissioned by The Boston Pops as an encore to one of its concerts. The composition is a jazz/Latin fusion piece featuring jazz piano and trumpet with full symphonic orchestra.

“This has been a wonderful year for The Panama City POPS,” remarks Victoria Williams, President of the organization’s Board of Directors. “The musicians have never sounded better and our community has recognized just how talented our local orchestra truly is. We look forward to another outstanding season.”

Established as a mentoring orchestra, The Panama City POPS invites advanced student musicians of all ages to audition. If qualified, they are mentored by current POPS musicians who help guide and teach them while giving them the opportunity to play and perform with an orchestra.

Also that evening, The Panama City POPS will conduct its second annual silent auction in collaboration with the Visual Arts Center. The painting, “Nature’s Symphony” by local artist, Kim Griffin, is the featured work of art on this season’s Panama City POPS Orchestra brochure, program covers and television commercials. The original artwork will be on display at the Visual Arts Center in downtown Panama City until the final POPS concert on May 2. More info on the artwork and auction is available at http://www.panamacitypops.org.

Individual tickets for the May 2 concert are $25 for adults, $18 for over age 65 or active military, and $10 for ages under 12, and are on sale now at http://www.panamacitypops.org or by calling
(850) 785-POPS (7677).

The Panama City POPS Orchestra Coming to Arnold High School

Saturday, March 7, 7:30 pm, it’s back to the Beach for more Panama City POPS musical fun at the Arnold High School Auditorium.

The program will be the combination of classical and pops selections that The POPS audiences have come to expect.

“With every concert we try to inject a surprise or two,” states Maestro Eddie Rackley. “A Splash of POPS will be no exception, and the audience will be in for a real treat.”

Mounting the program for the first half of the evening will be a selection of classical pieces. “Espana,” completed in 1883 by French composer, Emmanuel Chabrier, is said to be the perfect musical description of 19th-century Spain.

“Dance of the Hours,” a ballet from La Giconda by Ponchielli, will delight listeners when they realize its influence on many modern musical works.

“He Watching Over Israel,” from Mendelssohn’s oratio, “Elijah,” long considered his greatest work, will feature vocals by The POPS Chorale.

Finally, “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” by Otto Nikolai, will round out the classical program with a musical discussion of Shakespeare’s comedic oeuvre.

The second half of the program will feature an array of popular medleys and two selected vocal performances.

The orchestra will premier “Sky Dive” by composer Jack Jarrett of the Berklee School of Music.

“It’s a special honor for The POPS to debut yet another piece this season,” says Rackley, “and this work will give our audience a taste of what’s to come with the Jarrett-arranged finale we’ll perform on May 2.” That composition, entitled “A Tribute to Gershwin,” has been played and sung internationally.

“Medley from the Sound of Music” will highlight Rodgers and Hammerstein’s perennial favorite from Broadway. Another Broadway favorite, “Evita,” will be featured with the performance of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” sung by local vocalist, Ann Melancon. A second piece featuring vocals, “The Prayer,” will be sung by Carissa Hosea, Ron Bramblett and The POPS Chorale.

The evening will conclude with another medley entitled, “When Bossa Was King.” Antonio Carlos Jobim’s medley, arranged by nationally renowned composer and friend of The POPS, Kevin Kaska, was the first piece commissioned of Kaska by the Boston POPS in 1995. Translated, bossa nova is Portuguese for ‘new trend.’ Despite its rather short-lived movement (1958-1963), the trend contributed a number of songs to today’s standard jazz repertoire. The music is rhythmic at its core, and the genre will be best illustrated by Kaska’s medley featuring four classic Bossa Nova pieces including the first Bossa Nova single and possibly the most successful of all time, “The Girl from Ipanema.”

Individual tickets for the March 7 concert are $25 for adults, $18 for over age 65 or active military, and $10 for ages under 12, and are on sale now at Paul Brent Gallery, Cher’s Hallmark in Lynn Haven and Panama City Beach, The Associates Architects in Panama City and at http://www.panamacitypops.org. For more information see http://www.panamacitypops.org or call (850) 785-POPS (7677).

Panama City Pops Lauches Centennial Celebration

The Marina Civic Center will be alive with the sounds of The Panama City POPS “Sentimental Journey,” the orchestra’s centennial celebration Saturday, January 10, 2009, at 7:30 pm.

The evening promises to be an exciting one. An officially sanctioned orchestra of the 2009 Panama City Centennial Celebration, The POPS will perform music from every decade of the last 100 years. “It will be a very recognizable and thoroughly enjoyable program,” stated Maestro Eddie Rackley. “The POPS will perform classical favorites by the likes of Strauss and Haydn, as well as sounds from the Big Band era, jazz and folk pieces, even Latin and rock.”

The highlight of the program will be the performance of two pieces specially commissioned for this event. American conductor, composer and pianist, Louis Stewart, has written “Music for Panama City,” a Copland-esque composition echoing the sounds of the dean of American composers. The second piece, “Emerald Jubilee” has been composed by Kevin Kaska, whose “Golden Falcon Prelude” was debuted in at The POPS opening concert in October.

Louis Stewart, 64, is a native of Aberdeen, WA. Currently an Associate Professor on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music, he is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Specializing in new music, he has conducted and played premieres in New York, Seattle, Boston and Baltimore, and has guest conducted in the United States and Southeast Asia.

From 1971 to 1977 Mr. Stewart was pianist and assistant conductor with the Martha Graham Dance Company where he was involved with several revivals, premieres and international tours. In 1976 he was invited to play a performance at the White House as part of a special ceremony honoring Martha Graham. He has also authored two film and several theatrical scores, and is a recording artist for Denouement Records.

Kaska, 36, is a native of Seattle, WA. While in high school he was the only protégé of Hollywood composer-arranger, Vic Schoen. He studied film composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. While in Boston he formed his own jazz orchestra playing the music of Stan Kenton.

Mr. Kaska’s orchestral compositions, arrangements and orchestrations have been played worldwide by orchestras including John Williams and Keith Lockhart the Boston POPS Orchestra, the Seattle Philharmonic, Orchestra X in Houston, Phoenix Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as well as Maynard Ferguson and the Big Bop Nouveau Band and Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall.

“This concert will have something for everyone,” stated Rackley. “Aficionados and nescients alike will be delighted and dazzled by the evening’s program. It will be a wonderful tribute to Panama City.”

Individual tickets to the January 10 Centennial Celebration performance are $40 for adults,
$35 for over age 65 or active military, and $10 for ages under 12, and are on sale now at the Marina Civic Center, 850-763-4696 or www.marinaciviccenter.com.

For more information see www.panamacitypops.org or call (850) 785-POPS (7677).