World-class music for the international community of Queens

 

Contact:

Denise Jaklitsch                                                                        718-326-4455, ext. 16

Marketing & Public Relations                                          djak@queenssymphony.org

 

April 7, 2006

 

F O R    I M M E D I A T E    R E L E A S E

 

Queens Symphony Orchestra

presents

Swing into Spring

 part of the Masterworks Concert Series

 

Barbara Yahr, Music Director Finalist/Conductor
Allan Harris, Vocalist

 

Saturday, May 13, 2006 at 7 pm

Queensborough Community College Performing Arts Center

(56th Avenue & Springfield Blvd., Bayside)

 

Share a wonderful night with us on Mother’s Day weekend and join the QSO musicians in nostalgia – swinging into spring with music of yesteryear, including Bernstein On the Town, Duke Ellington selections featuring singer Allan Harris and Dvorak New World Symphony. Barbara Yahr, one of the four QSO Music Director Finalists, will be conducting the evening’s program Swing into Spring. 

 

As a bonus with each ticket purchased, it’s an opportunity for you to win a Mother’s Day gift for that special loved one, courtesy of the Queens Symphony Orchestra (winner to be chosen and announced at concert – must be present to win).

 

Maestro Barbara Yahr has been Music Director with the Greenwich Village Orchestra for the past four seasons.  She previously held posts as Principal Guest Conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra and Assistant Conductor to the Pittsburgh Symphony and Maestro Lorin Maazel.  Her guest conducting in both opera and symphony has taken her

 

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Pg. 2 QSO/Swing Into Spring

 

around the world including North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  In addition to conducting, Ms. Yahr is also a pianist. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports of one of her conducting performances “she understands issues of sonority and color” while the Charleston Gazette states “Yahr is the first woman to conduct a local orchestra in a subscription concert” and “she conducted with her eyes up, rarely looking at the score, in command of the situation at all times.” QSO is delighted and honored to have Barbara Yahr at the baton for the final Masterworks Concert of this season.

 

Singer Allan Harris’ voice and demeanor project “the warmth of Tony Bennett, the bite and rhythmic sense of Sinatra, and the sly elegance of Nat ‘King’ Cole”  (Leonard Pitts -

Miami Herald.) From gentle ballads to swinging tunes to Caribbean rhythms to slow sizzling down-home blues and scatting, Harris shows with conviction that not only does he have something to bring to the world of jazz, but that he is one of the leading male singers of his generation.  Harris has thrilled audiences all over the world from jazz clubs to some of Europe’s most famous opera houses.  Tony Bennett has praised Allan Harris and called him “my favorite singer.”  BET has taped his live concerts while the Smithsonian’s series “Jazz Singers” aired interviews and songs by Harris. CNN Showbiz Tonight referred to him as “one of the three best male jazz vocalists in the country” among other accolades from around the world.  For more information on this artist visit www.allanharris.com

 

Now in its 53rd season as the only professional orchestra in Queens, QSO continues its mission of bringing the best in classical, chamber, opera, pops, and arts-in-education to the residents of this borough. For further information about QSO and its programs, please visit www.queenssymphony.org

 

Ticket prices: Adults $25 (orchestra) / $20 (balcony); Students/Seniors $18.50; Children (12 & under) $10; Groups of 10 or more: 20% off. Concert tickets can be purchased in advance by calling the QSO office at 718-326-4455, ext. 20.

 

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Queens Symphony Orchestra

70-31 84th Street, Bldg. 38

Glendale, NY 11385

P: 718-326-4455   F: 718-326-4499

www.queenssymphony.org