November 7, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Come celebrate the holiday season Broadway-style with music, theater and dance as the Oregon Symphony welcomes back Yuletide Celebration, a Bank of America Pops family concert featuring traditional symphonic holiday music paired with theatrical production numbers on Dec. 19 through 22 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Media support is provided by Northwest NewsChannel 8, K103fm and Oregon Business Magazine.
In response to overwhelming audience demand, a Saturday matinee has been added for the third annual Yuletide Celebration on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 3 p.m. and a lineup filled with festive stage décor, new eye-catching productions, an extraordinary cast of nationally cast actors, singers and dancers, as well as local talent, sumptuous costumes and dazzling sets. This year’s concerts are co-hosted by Broadway talent Benjamin Brecher, who last appeared with the Symphony in last season’s Celtic Celebration, and vocalist Cara Johnston; it also features the return of tap dancer Stephanie Cadman, who has thrilled Symphony audiences with her flashing feet for the last two years.
Concert-goers who attended last year’s Yuletide Celebration will enjoy the return of the chorus line of tap-dancing Santas performed by dancers from the celebrated dance programs at Jefferson High School and “The Three Yuletide Tenors.” This year’s show also features exciting new numbers, including “Christmas Toons,” a retelling of favorite Christmas stories in cartoon format. The Symphony, led by conductor Orcenith Smith, will perform arrangements created specifically for Yuletide Celebration, including holiday favorites “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “The Christmas Song,” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
In addition, a chorus of eight singers directed by Portland
Opera’s chorusmaster
Carol Lucas will lend their voices
to the Yuletide cast as they sing a little bit of everything from
the Bach-Gounod “Ave Maria” to Cole Porter. Saxophone
player Patrick Lamb, a rising Oregon talent, will perform favorite
holiday selections.
The Westminster Presbyterian Church Concert Bell Choir, directed by David Greger, will be ringing in seasonal favorites in the Prelude programs that are held in the lobby of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall prior to each concert. Their program includes arrangements of “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night” and the “Arab Dance” from “The Nutcracker.”
In what is becoming an annual holiday tradition, the Symphony is once again partnering with Northwest NewsChannel 8 in support of their annual holiday toy drive; on-air KGW television personalities are scheduled to make appearances at each concert. Donations of new, unwrapped toys for the Northwest NewsChannel 8 Toy Drive are accepted at the Symphony’s ticket office and non-perishable food for the Oregon Food Bank are accepted at all Oregon Symphony Holiday concerts.
The first Yuletide Celebration was created for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1986 when discussions with local dance and theater companies led to the idea of creating a show that would incorporate elements of all three art forms while keeping the focus squarely on the orchestra. Now in its 18th year in Indianapolis, Yuletide Celebration is one of the orchestra industry’s major success stories.
Performances are scheduled for Friday, Dec. 19 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 21 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Monday, Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets range in price from $23 to $65 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Orcenith Smith has developed a distinguished career on the podiums of orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in the educational arena around the world. One of his major goals is the preservation and advancement of classical music by creating and developing the next generation of classical artists, as well as introducing and inspiring the next generation of classical music audiences. Mr. Smith is the newly-named American Artistic Director of the Vienna International Youth and Music Festival (Jugend und Musik in Wien) and also serves as Artistic Advisor of the Indianapolis Philharmonic. He has conducted the West Berlin Radio Orchestra and the BBC Symphony (London) as well as the Louisville Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Lafayette Symphony, the Terre Haute Symphony, the Springfield (OH) Symphony, the Carmel Symphony and the Orange County (CA) Philharmonic Society, to name a few. From 1981-89, Smith was Music Director of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Smith has maintained an ongoing relationship with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra that includes conducting in its New Music reading sessions entitled, “Music in Mind,” its Family Concert Series and, most recently, in the unique “Side-by-Side” concert in which talented high school musicians are selected, and given the incredible opportunity to rehearse, study and perform with ISO orchestra members. He has also been a member of the ISO’s “A Yuletide Celebration” conducting staff for several years.
Smith is the Music Director of the DePauw University Orchestras and Opera, winning an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 1991 for Adventuresome Programming. In 1999 he was chosen as the first recipient of DePauw’s new Cassel Grubb University Professorship in Music. With the DePauw Chamber Symphony, he has toured Japan, Austria, The Czech Republic, Great Britain, Washington’s Kennedy Center and New York’s Carnegie (Weill) Recital Hall, always to great acclaim from critics and audiences alike.
Born in Kansas and raised in Oklahoma, Orcenith Smith has earned degrees from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati where he studied conducting and tuba. As a professional tuba player, he has played with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra among others and gave a highly acclaimed recital at Carnegie Hall in 1997. He now resides in Greencastle, IN, with his wife and daughter.
Benjamin Brecher returns to Portland after starring as the Irish Tenor in the Oregon Symphony’s “A Celtic Celebration” pops concert last season. Equally at home on the operatic and concert stages, Mr. Brecher is in great demand worldwide in concert and bel canto opera repertoire. He has performed in Italy, England, Germany, Austria, France, Israel, Mexico, and Canada. He has performed over ten roles with The New York City Opera since 1997, appearing in their productions of “Il Viaggio a Reims,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” “Die Zauberflöte,” “L’Enfant et les Sortileges,” “Carmen,” “Seven Deadly Sins” and the New York premiere of “Central Park.” Other recent engagements include the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro Italy, “Don Giovanni” and Bernstein’s “Candide” in Rome, “L’Italiana in Algieri” in Montreal, and “The Merry Widow” in Palm Beach. Mr. Brecher has been seen on the nationally televised PBS galas from Carnegie Hall entitled “Ira Gershwin at 100” and “The Music of Lerner and Loewe.” Upcoming engagements include Celtic Celebration Concerts in Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Omaha, Indianapolis, and Naples; Mozart’s “Requiem” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, “Don Giovanni” in Naples, Connecticut, and Jacksonville; “L’Enfant et les Sortileges” with the National Symphony at Kennedy Center, L’Italiana in Algieri” in Nice, France, “Il Viaggio a Reims” in Helsinki, and Rome.
Mr. Brecher has recorded “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra; an Award winning recording of the Tenor Solos from Messiah on Nonesuch records; Schubert Vocal Quartets on Arabesque; and can be heard on the cast recordings of Louisiana Purchase and King David. Benjamin, a native of Toledo Ohio, is a graduate of The Juilliard Opera Center; received his B.M. at Bowling Green State University, and his Masters degree in Vocal Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music.
In 1992 he was the first place winner in the National Opera Association Competition and was awarded the Richard and Sarah Tucker Scholarship in 1999 and the Shoshana Foundation Richard F. Gold Career Grant in 1994.
Coloratura Cara Johnston received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Amy in the East Coast premiere of Mark Adamo’s “Little Women” at the Ash Lawn Highland Festival as well as with the Cabrillo Music Festival. Recent engagements have included Romberg’s “The New Moon” with City Center Encores! as well as a very successful debut with Chautauqua Opera as Musetta in “La Boheme.” As a concert soloist, she has been a featured guest artist with the Omaha Symphony for the past two seasons and has performed Handel’s “Messiah,” Bach’s Cantata No. 4, and Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” Ms. Johnston has performed frequently in musical theater as Eliza in “My Fair Lady” and “The Student Prince” with the Paper Mill Playhouse, “Sleeping Beauty” with Radio City Entertainment, Lilli/Kate in “Kiss Me, Kate” with Westchester Broadway Theatre, as well as a European tour of “The Best of A.L. Webber” with Ovation Productions. She was a NYSTA Vocal Gymnastics Competition Grand Finalist, a NATSAA District Winner, and received Third Place in the Butterfield Young Artist Competition. Upcoming engagements include Cunegonde in “Candide” with Opera Boston, and a series of concerts including “Broadways Divas!” and “Vienna to Broadway” with the Indianapolis, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Seattle and Oregon Symphony Orchestras. Ms. Johnston received her Masters of Music in voice performance from Arizona State University. She went on to become a Resident Artist of the Music Theatre of Wichita, a Principal Artist with Ash Lawn Highland Festival, and an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, and toured with their educational program as Rosina in “The Barber of Seville.”
Stephanie Cadman has been performing since the age of four, delighting audiences with her top-notch Celtic fiddling and dazzling footwork. In the past year Stephanie completed the acclaimed US National tour of “42nd Street” and has just returned from the US tour of “Bowfire,” featuring ten top Canadian violinists. She appeared in the 1999 Toronto production of “Swingstep,” combining her considerable talents as actor, dancer, singer and fiddler, and went on to perform in “Needfire” (Royal Alex Theatre) and with the John McDermott Celtic Review in Monte Carlo. As a dancer, Stephanie is accomplished in tap, Celtic stepdancing, ballet and jazz. She was the top female solo tap dancer at the 1998 World Tap Dance Championships in Germany, and in 1999, 2000, and 2003 won top Canadian stepdancing titles at the prestigious Pembroke Championships. She has appeared as a dance soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Milwaukee and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Kennedy Center's National Symphony Orchestra. She toured with Amy Sky in her Phenomenal Woman show as a featured fiddler and stepdancer and has also been featured in numerous television productions and independent films.
Patrick is one of those extraordinary talents who combine raw talent and energy with a singular ability to captivate an audience with his youthful charm, sincerity and pure magnetism. His focus as a songwriter and performing artist is Modern Pop/R&B. He combines the influences of Funk, R&B, Modern Pop, & a flavor of Jazz to create the unique sound of Patrick Lamb.
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Patrick was playing roadhouse music as a teenager in rural Mississippi when he heard the evocative sounds of James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Wilton Felder, of the Crusaders. He immersed himself in the music of these great artists and began to discover his own sound that would take him far. In the eighties his father, a high school science teacher, took the family to Portland, Oregon. Once there, Patrick’s playing and singing were developing into a formidable one-two punch. He accepted the opportunity to perform and tour with Concord Recording Artist & Grammy-winner Diane Schuur. He has currently rejoined Diane and her band and has been touring worldwide. For a period of time before rejoining Diane Schuur’s tour, he recorded and toured worldwide with the Tom Grant band.
Patrick’s good looks and charisma make him well-suited to speak and entertain on stage, radio and TV. This was demonstrated during the holiday season of 2001 when Patrick was asked to be the headline performer for FOX 49’s Sounds of the Season. Not only did he perform, but he coordinated the musical arrangements and production for the holiday special. In 1996 and 1997 he was invited to perform at the White House during the holiday Congressional VIP Tours and was in attendance at “The Peace on Earth Celebration,” leading to a meeting with President Clinton.
Over the past year Patrick has been focusing on his own recording career as both a songwriter and performer. He is co-writing with his long time friend Lee Garret, who co-wrote and performed with Stevie Wonder, and former Atlantic recording artist Angela Via. Patrick’s new music will bridge together his love of Funk, R&B, and Modern Pop. Patrick recently described his vision, “I want the sound to be, funky, smooth and make people want to groove. My live shows should uplift people, and leave them wanting more.”
Patrick has appeared on other recording projects including albums with Gino Vanelli, Jeff Lorber, Tom Grant and other well known artists. Along with, recording with other artists he has begun to build a catalog of his own recordings. He currently has recorded five albums entitled: “For the Love,” his debut solo release; “The Closer I Get,” “Sunshine Alley” and two holiday albums “Home for the Holidays” and “With a Christmas Heart.” Patrick’s growing popularity as an accomplished songwriter and performing artist is making him in hot demand all over the nation.
Patrick also demonstrates a deep sense of community awareness and civic responsibility. He has performed for numerous fund-raisers to raise consciousness about the loss of funding for the arts in public schools. In addition, he has been involved with major civic efforts to raise money for the America Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Society, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, The Christie School and the Richard Burdell ALS Foundation. One can’t help but be moved by the huge heart of this young man as it comes though in his civic awareness...and in his exuberant energy to entertain and uplift people.
