FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, JULY 19 & 20 AT 8:30 PM
July 20 Media Sponsor: 94.7 THE WAVE
Conductor Charles Floyd leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic with special guest artists Sergio Mendes and Brasil 2002 and the dynamic band Pink Martini, for an evening of Brazilian sounds, bossa nova, and toe-tapping pop tunes at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20 at 8:30 p.m.
Bossa nova king Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 have been one of the few Brazilian recording artists to enjoy international mainstream stardom. With their string of hits from the 1960s onward, Mendes & his group rate as the biggest selling Brazilian group ever with their eclectic style of Brazilian, bossa nova, pop, Latin, and samba. This program will delight his fans with standards from his repertoire, including "Mas Que Nada," "Look of Love," "Fool on the Hill," and "One Note Samba." Pink Martini represents a refreshing and new pop music sound, respecting the traditions of classical, jazz and Latin, and inspiring a new amalgamation.
Quintessential Brazilian songster SERGIO MENDES was born in Niteroi. He started taking piano lessons as a child, switching from classical music to jazz in his youth. For most of the second half of the 1960s, Mendes was the top-selling Brazilian artist in the United States, charting huge hit singles that regularly made the top five. Since then, Mendes has continued to reinvent his Brazilian musical style, even incorporating the sound of Bahian hip-hop in his music. Mendes last appeared at the Hollywood Bowl in 2001.
PINK MARTINI blends influences from classical chamber music to Cuban son, from French music halls to foreign film scores, resulting in a dynamic frenzy of percussion, brass, strings, and vocals that span the continents. Their CD, Sympathique, was released independently on their own label, Heinz Records, in 1998. Comprised of 10 musicians, the Portland, Oregon-based group was a fortuitous accident, thrown together as the opener for The Del Rubio Triplets in 1994. Since then, Pink Martini has toured extensively, including performances with the Oregon Symphony, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Eartha Kitt, among others. Their live performances have included special guest vocal appearances by Kim Coles, Queen Latifah, and Gus Van Sant. They last performed at the Bowl in 1999.
Conductor, pianist, and composer CHARLES FLOYD began studying piano at age four, gave his first solo recital at age nine, and by age 20 had been heard in solo recital, chamber music, and concerto performances throughout the United States and Spain. As a conductor, Floyd has been heard in pops concerts with more than 500 orchestras since 1991, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Houston, Oregon, Miami, Spokane, Akron, and Colorado symphony orchestras, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras. Charles Floyd has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including those from the Aspen School of Music, the AMOCO Corporation, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Chicago's Louis Sudler Foundation, and the National Chopin Competition of New York's Kosciuszko Foundation. Floyd last appeared at the Bowl in 2000.
One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of just under 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and, in 1991 gave its name to The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. A hit from its very first season, the Hollywood Bowl has remained popular and accessible to a wide cross-section of Southern California's diverse population. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "Open House at the Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 34th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and last summer, close to one million admissions were recorded. It is no wonder that the Bowl's summer music festivals have become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers and Disneyland.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
Friday, July 19, 8:30 PM
Saturday, July 20, 8:30 PM
Hollywood Bowl (2301 N. Highland Ave.)
Moonlight, Mendes, and Martini(s)
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
CHARLES FLOYD, conductor
SERGIO MENDES AND BRASIL 2002
PINK MARTINI
July 20 Media Sponsor: 94.7 THE WAVE
Tickets ($3 - $90) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl box office, by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations), or online at hollywoodbowl.com. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details. For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.
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Elizabeth Hinckley, 323/850-2047; David Barber, 323/850-2023