“Pop” Goes Doc: Legendary Trumpet Entertainer Returns

Rochester, NY, April 17, 2006 – A familiar face will return to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29 at 8:00 p.m. at the Eastman Theater as Doc Severinsen, the legendary former Tonight Show bandleader and trumpeter will conduct and play favorites in a program entitled “Gershwin, Ellington, Viennese and More!” Gershwin’s Someone to Watch Over Me, Strauss’ Overture to Die Fledermaus and Duke Ellington’s In A Sentimental Mood, highlight an entertaining evening filled with the colorful verve for which Severinsen is famous.

A Grammy award winner, Doc has made more than 30 albums – from big band to jazz-fusion to classical. Maestro Severinsen travels the country to perform and conduct with ensembles ranging from symphonic orchestras to jazz bands. In this season alone, Doc travels from Buffalo to Phoenix and from Seattle to Pittsburgh as guest soloist with orchestras, often wearing outfits that are only slightly less brassy than his horn. When not performing with his celebrated group or conducting a major orchestra, he is Principal Pops Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and just ended a spectacularly successful 22 years with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. Doc continues to practice three to four hours daily… “just to warm up.”

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

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.