Take 15 very talented student singers, back them up with the 50-piece Western New York Chamber Orchestra and add music from some of Broadway’s all-time biggest blockbusters. What you end up with is an unforgettable evening of music.
Rockefeller Arts Center continues its annual tradition with “Commencement Eve Pops on Broadway: Music from Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and More” on Friday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m., in King Concert Hall.
Program highlights include extended suites from “Les Misérables” and “Phantom of the Opera,” which will make use of King Concert Hall’s Schlicker pipe organ, the largest in Western New York with 2,459 pipes. Also featured will be selections from “West Side Story” and “Candide.”
Many of the student vocalists have performed in recent productions by the Fredonia Department of Theatre and Dance and the Fredonia School of Music.
Cast members for the pops concert are Trevor Alberts Pearson, Jake Badding, Noah Barnes, Lyric Boothe, Patrick Brett, Genevieve Ellis, Tom Gruenthal, Haley D. Hughes, Brett Jackson, Sam Luck, Steve Maynard, Colin McCrea, Brianna Ross, Julie Shapiro, Annastassia Stewart, Michaela Tramuta and Abigail Truax.
The repertoire includes “Music of the Night,” “Bring Him Home,” “Somewhere,” “All I Ask of You,” “One Hand, One Heart,” “Masquerade,” “I Dreamed a Dream” and many more.
Conductor Glen Cortese will lead the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, which is comprised of faculty at the Fredonia School of Music and professional musicians from the Buffalo, Rochester, N.Y., and Erie, Pa., areas. The Fredonia Chamber Choir, under the direction of Dr. Melvin Unger, will be the chorus.
School of Music faculty member Brent Webber will be serving as the stage director and Rockefeller Director Jefferson Westwood is the producer.
It is a DFT Communications Pops Series event sponsored by the Fredonia and Silver Creek Penny Savers as part of the Lake Shore Savings Season.
Tickets are available through the Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center, by phone at 716-673-3501 and online.
