Chris Botti Launches 2013-14 Season at New York Pops Tonight

Tonight, October 4, 2013, The New York Pops orchestra will launch its 31st Season at Carnegie Hall with An Evening with Chris Botti. Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the orchestra in a highly-anticipated opening with America's largest-selling instrumental artist, trumpeter Chris Botti. The performance will include selections such as Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor," "Emmanuel," and "When I Fall in Love" from his recent Grammy Award-winning album Impressions, as well as other popular favorites, at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

"On the heels of last year's record-breaking sold-out season, I'm thrilled to begin yet another stellar year with the incredible New York Pops," says Music Director Steven Reineke.

The New York Pops' 31st season continues with an all big band program titled Sing Sing Swing featuring Tony Award nominee Montego Glover and clarinetist Dave Bennett in a tribute to Benny Goodman on November 1, 2013 at 8PM at Carnegie Hall.

Since the release of his 2004 critically acclaimed CD When I Fall In Love, Chris Botti has become the largest-selling American instrumental artist. His success has crossed over to audiences usually reserved for pop music and his ongoing association with PBS has led to four #1 jazz albums, as well as multiple Gold, Platinum and Grammy Awards. Most recently, his latest album Impressions won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album at this year's 55th Grammy Awards. Performing worldwide and selling more than three million albums, he has found a form of creative expression that begins in jazz and expands beyond the limits of any single genre. Over the past three decades, Botti has recorded and performed with the best in music, including Sting, Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Bublé, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, John Mayer, Andrea Bocelli, Joshua Bell, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and even Frank Sinatra. Hitting the road for as many as 300 days per year, the trumpeter has also performed with many of the finest symphonies and at some of the world's most prestigious venues from Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House and the Real Teatro di San Carlo in Italy. Impressions, Botti's 2012 Columbia Records and Grammy Award-winning release, is the latest in a stellar parade of albums - including When

I Fall In Love (2004), To Love Again: The Duets (2005), Italia (2007), and the CD/DVD Chris Botti in Boston (2009) - that has firmly established him as a clarion voice in the American contemporary music scene. Playing with his uniquely expressive sound and soaring musical imagination, Botti is joined on the disc by featured artists Andrea Bocelli, Vince Gill, Herbie Hancock, Mark Knopfler, and David Foster in a warm, intimate celebration of melodic balladry. With Impressions and the albums that preceded it, Chris Botti has thoroughly established himself as one of the important, innovative figures of the contemporary music world.

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall. The New York Pops was founded by Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America's rich musical heritage. The New York Pops is dedicated to lifelong learning, and collaborates with public schools, community organizations, children's hospitals and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Pops Education allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun.

Steven Reineke is the Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Principal Pops Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has been on the podium with the Boston Pops, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia. His extensive North American conducting appearances include San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, Edmonton and Pittsburgh. As the creator of more than one hundred orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Mr. Reineke's work has been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently in North America. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands around the world. A native of Ohio, Mr. Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, where he earned bachelor of music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City with his partner Eric Gabbard.

TICKETS Single tickets are priced from $34 to $120. Subscriptions to the 2013-2014 Carnegie Hall series are also available, from $85 to $580. Purchases can be made at the Carnegie Hall Box Office (57th Street and 7th Avenue) or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. Visit www.carnegiehall.org for more information.