Experience Broadway’s Best, January 7 

Space Coast Symphony presents work of Rodgers & Hammerstein, plus Andrew Lloyd Webber 

(Viera, FL) December 27, 2015 – The Space Coast Symphony rings in the New Year with four powerhouse soloists during the Rodgers & Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber Experience on Thursday, January 7th at 7:00 PM atthe Scott Center for the Performing Arts at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy in north Melbourne, just off the Pineda Causeway at 5625 Holy Trinity Drive, 32940.  Soprano Yvonne Gonzales Redman of the Metropolitan Opera and SopranoSharon Yost, along with tenor Kyle Jones and baritone Michael John Foster will perform popular songs from Cats, Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, Carousel, Evita, Cinderella and many more, in a thrilling tribute to the composer kings of Broadway.  The concert is free for those aged 18 and under or with a student ID.  $20 advance tickets for adults are available through the orchestra website at www.SpaceCoastSymphony.org or at several convenient ticket outlets, including Ace Hardware stores in Indialantic and Cocoa Beach, Blue Sky Insurance in Cocoa Village, Tropical Realty of Suntree, Art Expressions in downtown Eau Gallie, Atlantic Strings in Melbourne, A Floral Affair in Merritt Island, Brass & Reed Music Store in Merritt Island, La Moda Boutique in Satellite Beach and Brevard Florist in Palm Bay.  Tickets at the door are $25.  For more information, call toll free to 855-252-7276 or visitwww.SpaceCoastSymphony.org.  

Conductor and Artistic Director, Aaron Collins, recognizes the immense talent of the featured composers and the assembled soloists.

“Rodgers & Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber are artistic giants,” said Collins.  “Showcased together in this concert, their music is one mega hit after another.  We are lucky and proud to present four incredibly talented soloists to perform some of these immortal works in what will truly be an ‘experience’ for the audience.”

For more information about the Space Coast Symphony 2015-16 season or the Symphony for Everyone discount ticket program, please visit www.SpaceCoastSymphony.org or call toll-free (855) 252-7276.

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ABOUT RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN — From Wikipedia entry: Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) were an influential, innovative and successful American musical theatre writing team, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, initiating what is considered the “golden age” of musical theatre. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their Broadway shows, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music, were outstanding successes, as was the television broadcast of Cinderella. Among the many accolades their shows (and film versions) garnered were 34 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammy Awards. Their musical theatre writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th Century.

ABOUT ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER — From Wikipedia entry: Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre.

Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals, notably “The Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” and “You Must Love Me” from Evita, “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and “Memory” from Cats.

He has received a number of awards, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from Queen Elizabeth II for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, 14 Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Brit Award, the 2006 Kennedy Center Honors, and the 2008 Classic Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an inductee into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

His company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest theatre operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, of the Lloyd Webber musicals under license from the Really Useful Group. Lloyd Webber is also the president of the Arts Educational Schools London, a performing arts school located in Chiswick, West London. He is involved in a number of charitable activities, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Nordoff Robbins, Prostate Cancer UK and War Child. In 1992 he set up the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation which supports the arts, culture and heritage in the UK.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS –

Yvonne Gonzales Redman, Soprano has enjoyed a 18-year career as a main stage soprano at the Metropolitan Opera including 199 onstage performances as a principal soloist, including 26 live radio and television broadcasts. Highlights include Zerlina in Don Giovanni (James Levine, conductor); Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore (with Luciano Pavarotti for his 30th anniversary gala); Jouvenot in Adrianna Lecouvreur (in Mirella Freni’s final performances of this work); and inParsifal with Placido Domingo, to name only a few highlights of her career. A grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council competition and the Eleanor McCullum Houston Grand Opera competition.

Ms. Redman has performed at the Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Wolf Trap, Opera Illinois, and the Houston Grand Opera, where she sang the world premiere of Daniel Catan’s Florencia en el Amazones. She was featured in the role of Mimi in La Boheme in the Bregenz Festival in Austria.

She has shared the stage with some of the greatest operatic artists, including Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Samuel Ramey, Nathan Gunn, Bryn Terfel, Teresa Stratas, Renee Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham, Carol Vaness, Dawn Upshaw, Denise Graves, Paul Groves, Ben Heppner, Jerry Hadley, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Rene Pape, and Thomas Hampson. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include James Levine, James Conlon (Music Director of Ravinia, among other titles), Sir Charles Mackerras, Leonard Slatkin, Richard Bonynge, and Murry Sidlin.

Michael John Foster, Baritone is a Central Florida artist with an international career who divides his time between performing, directing and teaching. Michael, an Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) artist, has a Bachelors degree in music from Liberty University and a Masters degree in voice from Florida State University and a doctorate in voice performance from the University of Illinois where he was a 2011 Krannert Center Debut artist nominee and studied with Grammy award winner and Metropolitan Opera artist Nathan Gunn.  He has previously appeared in many productions including the Baker in Into the Woods, Tony in West Side Story, Kodaly in She Loves Me, and Smudge in the touring company ofForever Plaid to name a few. Michael has recently been seen with the U of I opera as Sid in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring and as Don Giovanni, Leporello and Ben Franklin in the U of I opera studio course led by Dawn Harris and Ricardo Herrera. In concert, Michael has been featured soloist for works such as Steiner Requiem, Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, and Handel’s Saul appearing with groups such as the Skaneatles Choral Society in New York and The Nashville Chamber Singers at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

He is also an accomplished stage director having most recently directed Into The Woods, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, The Magic Flute, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Light in the Piazza, Sondheim’s Company, and Steel Magnolias. He has spent several summers performing and teaching at the Scuola Italia Summer Program for Young Opera Singers in Urbania, Italy and currently heads their newest program for singing actors, which he developed, called The Program for Lyric Theatre. Michael has been featured as the lead in several commercials, as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast Live at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and is known as convention speaker specializing in acting methods for singers. Michael also leads the Arts and Culture Committee of North Brevard, a team which specializes in creating opportunities for artists to excel while enriching the lives in the community of Florida’s Space Coast. More about Michael John Foster is available on his website at www.drmichaeljohnfoster.com.

Kyle Jones, Tenor, excels as a diverse and engaging interpreter of both new works and seasoned classics.  Media reviews have called him “splendid” (Tallahassee Democrat), “impressive” (Dallas Morning News), “emotional…equal parts sweetness and swagger” (Jacksonville Daily News), and “a voice to enjoy with every note” (Greenville News).  He has performed several roles with Furman University Opera, Florida State Opera, Dallas Opera, The Living Opera, Piedmont Men’s Chorale, Tallahassee Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and the Jacksonville Masterworks Chorale.  Signature roles include Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Sam in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte,  the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring, Nanki-Poo in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, and Don Curzio/Don Basilio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.  In addition, Mr. Jones has sung many of the great oratorio works such as Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and Gounod’s Messe de St. Cecila.  Most recently, Mr. Jones has been a guest soloist with the Space Coast Symphony and Brevard Community Chorus.  He has also performed with many ensembles in the Dallas/Fort Worth area including the UNT a cappella choir, UNT Collegium Singers, Orpheus Chamber Singers, The Orchestra of New Spain, and the Denton Bach Society.  Mr. Jones is a graduate of Furman University, attended Florida State University for voice performance and the University of North Texas in Denton for a Master’s degree in choral conducting.  A composer of sacred choral music, Mr. Jones is the director of music and worship arts and organist at Eastminster Presbyterian in Indialantic, Florida, as well as the interim director of Brevard’s premier choral ensemble, the Indialantic Chamber Singers and the chorus master for the Space Coast Symphony and Riverside Chamber Orchestra.

ABOUT THE SPACE COAST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA— The SCSO is a lively and passionate Central Florida orchestra comprised of professional musicians, music educators and mentored amateurs of exceptional ability.  The Orchestra was formed by Conductor and Artistic Director Aaron T. Collins with a two-fold mission: to provide mentoring and performance opportunities for Florida’s finest young musicians as well as to provide professional concerts at genuinely affordable prices.  The ultimate goal of the organization is to help ensure the symphonic tradition for the enjoyment of future generations.

33- year old Aaron T. Collins is garnering recognition for his achievements.  LEAD Brevard named the ambitious Collins one of their “4 under 40” Young Professionals, the youngest-ever recipient of the honor.  Space Coast Businessmagazine listed him as one of Brevard’s “100 Most Admired Businesspeople.”  Through his personal involvement with more than a dozen performing arts groups, pioneering reciprocal ad program and social media cross promotions, Collins has gained a reputation for generosity; championing other arts organizations throughout Central Florida for the cultural enrichment of the community.

The Space Coast Symphony Orchestra performs in several very comfortable venues in Brevard and Indian River counties, with advance general admission tickets priced at just $20.  School-aged children 18 years and under are admitted free of charge, as are college students with a valid ID.  In keeping with their mission, the symphony provides a unique Symphony for Everyone ticketing program, a “pay-what-you-can” option designed to provide substantially discounted admission to any Space Coast Symphony concert.

Relying on a non-traditional orchestra model and a slim budget, the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra is one of only 17 U.S. orchestras to perform year-round. In addition to maintaining the Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra and Space Coast Symphony Wind Orchestra, the non-profit organization provides numerous separate and free ensemble performances. More information about the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming concerts, ticket sales, venues, directions and sponsorship opportunities is available at www.SpaceCoastSymphony.org by calling toll free (855) 252-7276.