Jazz Vocalist Dianne Reeves Sings Toast to Sarah Vaughan

Rochester, NY, May 16, 2006 – Fresh from her Grammy-winning performance on the soundtrack to the film Good Night, and Good Luck, jazz singer Dianne Reeves pays tribute to vocalist Sarah Vaughan in the season’s final pair of WPOP Series concerts by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. On Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m. in the Eastman Theatre, Dianne Reeves performs well-known tunes from a variety of composers including Kurt Weill, George Shearing, Stephen Sondheim and George Gershwin, assisted by a trio featuring Peter Martin, piano and musical director; Rueben Rogers, bass; and Kendrick Scott, drums. RPO Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik conducts the forces of the RPO.

Ms. Reeves sings on the second half of the concert; the first half features two of the RPO’s own scintillating musicians. Concertmaster Juliana Athayde (The Caroline W. Gannett & Clayla Ward Chair), and Principal Clarinetist Kenneth Grant (The Robert J. Strasenburgh Chair) show their versatility as jazz soloists. Ms. Athayde performs Jazz Suite for Juliana, a piece written by Jeff Tyzik specifically in her honor. Each of the three movements gives a nod to a jazz great and his music: Duke Ellington’s Satin Doll, George Gershwin’s Our Love Is Here To Stay, and Kenny Rollins’ Pent-up House. Kenneth Grant performs Dreaming of the Masters I – A Jazz Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Canadian composer Allan Gilliland.

Ms. Reeves first heard Sarah Vaughan’s music as a teenager and said that recording her own CD, The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan, was the fulfillment of a dream. She attended one of Sarah Vaughan’s concerts in the 1970s, and had the privilege of meeting the great singer and expressing admiration for her music.

Recognized as one of jazz’s pre-eminent vocalists, Dianne Reeves is the only singer to have won Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings. Known for her strong, agile voice, rhythmic virtuosity and improvisational ease, Ms. Reeves has been called “the only jazz singer with a voice big enough to rival Sarah Vaughan’s” (The New York Times).

Tickets for these performances are $26-$56, available online 24/7 at www.rpo.org, by phone (454-2100) and in person from the RPO Box Office, as well as at all Wegmans Video Departments. RPO Box Office Hours are Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (non-concert Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.). The Wegmans Video Department is open seven days a week, 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. A convenience fee may apply.

The WPOP Series is sponsored by Wegmans; this concert is made possible in part by Xerox.

Note: The East End Festival also takes place on Friday, June 2. East Avenue between Matthews and Gibbs Streets will be closed. Gibbs Street and the Eastman Theatre will be accessible for patron drop-off via Chestnut Street.

Celebrating its 83rd season in 2005-06, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s mission is to perform and present a broad range of quality music; attract, entertain and educate audiences with superior musical performances; maintain and build the Orchestra’s national reputation; and enhance the reputation of the Rochester community as a place in which to live, work, play, visit and learn.

RPO performances are made possible in part with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; the State of New York; the County of Monroe; the City of Rochester; and American Airlines, the official airline of the RPO.