A Valentine Romance

10:30am

Friday, Feb. 10

Fall in love with Lisa Vroman as she sings great love songs from Broadway

and the American songbook, including music of Bernstein and Peress,

Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Webber, and O’Neil. Enjoy great ro-

mantic classics with the BPO and John Morris Russell with popular songs

from West Side Story, Carousel, Music Man, and Phantom of the Opera.

John Morris Russell, conductor

Lisa Vroman, soloist

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

Music has a powerful way of capturing the strongest of emotions and

turning them into a song that is both relatable and enjoyable. For dec-

ades this has been done through works of classical and musical thea-

ter. The pieces covered in this performance are sure to instill the love

and passion that brought these songs to success with hits such as “All

I Ask of You”, “If I Loved You”, and “Moon River”.

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REPERTOIRE

BERNSTEIN/Peress Overture to West Side Story

WILLSON “Lida Rose”/”Dream of Now” from Music Man

GOUNOD; “The Jewel Song” from Faust/”I Feel Pretty” from

BERNSTEIN/O’Neil West Side Story

STEINER/Campbell-Watson “Tara’s Theme” from Gone with the Wind

MANCINI/Hermann “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s

MARTIN; LOEWE/O’Neil “The Trolley Song” from Meet Me in St. Louis/

”I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady

RODGERS/D. Walker “To Keep My Love Alive” from A Connecticut Yankee

RODGERS “If I Loved You” from Carousel

RODGERS “The Carousel Waltz” from Carousel

INTERMISSION

GERSHWIN/Rose Overture to Girl Crazy

GERSHWIN/O’Neil “‘S Wonderful” from Funny Face

GERSHWIN/O’Neil “Someone to Watch Over Me” from Oh, Kay!

DEBUSSY/Dragon Clair de Lune

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER/ “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera

O’Neil

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER/ “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera

O’Neil

SAINT-SAËNS Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah

Featured Composers:

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) - An American composer, conductor, author and pi-anist, Bernstein kicked off his famous career as conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

His greatest works include the music of West Side Story, Peter Pan, and On the Town.

Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) - An American composer best known for being one half of the greatest partnership in musical theater history: Rodgers and Hammerstein. His most successful musical compositions can be heard in Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound

of Music, South Pacific, and The King and I.

Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-Present) - An English composer and impresario of theater, several of Webber’s shows have run on Broadway for over a decade. His most

well known works include Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Cats, and Jesus Christ Superstar.

George Gershwin (1898-1937) - An American composer and pianist, Gershwin has written highly successful orchestral compositions such as Rhapsody in Blue, An Ameri-

can in Paris, and the opera Porgy and Bess.

FRIDAY, FEB. 10

From Broadway to classics, on stage and in concert, Lisa Vro-

man has established herself as one of America's most versatile

voices. She has been regarded as a “musical and theatri-

cal marvel” by The San Francisco Chronicle, as well as “one of

American Musical Theater’s most beautiful voices” by ac-

claimed Broadway producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh. Among

her extensive repertoire, Ms. Vroman starred on Broadway, in

San Francisco, and Los Angeles as Christine Daaé in The Phan-

tom of the Opera. Her many roles include: Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus; both Fantine

and Cosette in Les Miserables; Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella (New York City

Opera); as Marion Paroo in The Music Man (with Shirley Jones and Patrick Cassidy); Lili

Vanessi in Kiss Me Kate (Glimmerglass Opera /St. Louis MUNY); Anna Leonowens in

The King and I (Lyric Opera of Virginia). For PBS, she played Johanna in Sweeney Todd

in Concert (Patti Lupone, George Hearn) and was Christine (Phantom of the Opera) in

Hey, Mr. Producer! (London Royal Gala). Ms. Vroman is a regular guest artist with sym-

phonies including San Francisco, Cleveland, Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Seattle, Atlanta, and

Detroit, as well as the Boston Pops (Keith Lockhart), Philly Pops (Peter Nero), and New

York Pops (Carnegie Hall).

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Lisa Vroman (Soprano):

John Morris Russell (Conductor):

John Morris Russell is a modern conductor who en-

gages and enthralls audiences with his orchestral ex-

perience. Mr. Russell’s diverse programming and elec-

tric stage presence brings great creativity and energy

to one of the world’s most iconic pops orchestras.

Russell has been named the Principal Pops Conductor

for the BPO starting from the 2015-2016 concert sea-

son. He is also a popular guest conductor throughout the United States and has served

as music director for other notable Symphony Orchestras like The Windsor Symphony

Orchestra, where he’s held the title of Conductor Laureate for eleven years. Other en-

sembles he has worked with include: The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, for whom he

also leads the Pops program, The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, The Toronto Phil-

harmonic Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic Orchestra, The Cleve-

land Orchestra, The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and The Hilton Head

Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina.

Explore and Learn:

Lisa Vroman has a wide ranging repertoire, including classical mu-

sic and Broadway. Her versatility as a singer allows her to reach a vari-

ety of audiences and appeal to many different listeners. Versatility

such as this is important for musicians to have and helps lead to a suc-

cessful career.

Why do you think it might be important for artists today to be

versatile? How has the music industry changed in recent years?

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

As Buffalo’s cultural ambassador, the Grammy Award-

winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, under Music Direc-

tor JoAnn Falletta, presents more than 120 Classics, Pops and

Youth Concerts each year and reaches more than 42,000 K-12

students per year across all eight counties of Western New

York.

Since 1940, the orchestra’s permanent home has been

Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Landmark designed

by Eliel and Eero Saarinen with an international reputation as

one of the finest concert halls in the United States.

JoAnn Falletta, Conductor

Friday Morning

Concert Series

BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC

ORCHESTRA

education@bpo.org

Sources:

BPO.org,

www.lisavromon.com