Pasadena Symphony Opens Season With Dvorak's New World Symphony Tonight

Pasadena, CA - Music Director David Lockington and The Pasadena Symphony open their 2015-2016 Singpoli Classics Series with Dvorák's New World Symphony tonight, October 10, 2015 at Ambassador Auditorium with matinee and evening performances at 2:00pm and 8:00pm. Audiences will delight in Dvorák's most popular symphonic work. The orchestra will be joined by 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner - violinist Bella Hristova in Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts' gorgeously sonorous Violin Concerto. These exhilarating performances kick off a newly expanded 6-concert Classics Series to celebrate the Pasadena Symphony's 88th season as the premiere destination for live symphonic music in the Pasadena region.

Pasadena's most anticipated opening night of the concert season will showcase Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova performing the Southern California debut of Kevin Puts' Violin Concerto. Critically acclaimed for a richly colored, harmonic and freshly melodic musical voice, Puts has been hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation, winning the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for music. Hristova's rendition of his lyrically beautiful Violin Concerto promises to exhilarate audiences with the passionate and powerful command of her instrument, which The New York Times has praised as having "a lovely, often soaring tone."

The elegant evening will finish with the orchestra's performance of Dvo?ák's New World Symphony. One of the most powerful of all symphonies, Dvo?ák's masterpiece is a tribute to the American spirit, having been written during the composer's time living in New York. Classical audiences are eagerly anticipating David Lockington's exhilarating rendition of this monumental composition, which cemented Dvo?ák's reputation as a world-renowned composer.

To learn more about the works being performed, join us for Insights - a free pre-concert dialogue with David Lockington regarding the historical backgrounds of the composers and a behind-the-scenes discussion about our guest performers. Insights begins one hour prior to each performance.

The Pasadena Symphony provides a socially vibrant experience specially designed for the music lover, the social butterfly or a date night out, and the inner epicurean in us all. Celebrate opening night in style in the luxurious Sierra Auto Symphony Lounge, yet another addition to the delightful and elegant concert experience the Pasadena Symphony offers. A posh setting at Ambassador Auditorium's beautiful outdoor plaza, audiences enjoy uniquely prepared menus for both lunch and dinner at each concert from Claud &Co, fine wines by Michero Family Wines, plus music before the concert and during intermission. Six-concert subscription packages start at $180, single tickets start at $35 and may be purchased online atwww.pasadenasymphony-pops.org or by calling (626) 793-7172.

IF YOU GO:

• What: The Pasadena Symphony presents Dvo?ák's New World Symphony.
• When: Saturday, October 10 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
• Where: Ambassador Auditorium | 131 South St. John Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105
• Cost: Tickets start at $35.00
• Sierra Auto Symphony Lounge: Located on the plaza at Ambassador Auditorium. Opens at 12:30 pm before the matinee and 6 pm before the evening performance.
• Parking: Valet parking is available on Green Street for $15. General parking is available in two locations: next to the Auditorium (entrance on St. John Ave) at the covered parking structure for $10 and directly across the street at the Wells Fargo parking structure (entrance on Terrace at Green St). ADA parking is located at the above-ground parking lot adjacent to the Auditorium (entrance on St. John Ave.) for $10. Parking purchased onsite is cash only.
• Pre-Concert Discussion: Pre-concert discussions with David Lockington begins one hour before curtain and is available to all ticket holders at no cost.

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ABOUT THE PASADENA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
Recent Acclaim for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS:

"The Pasadena Symphony signals a new direction...teeming with vitality...dripping with opulent, sexy emotion." - Los Angeles Times.

"...full of pulsating energy from first note to last... the strings were lushly resonant, the wind principals were at the top of their games, and the brass rang out with gleaming vigor." - Pasadena Star News.

Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood's most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.

The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association's Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed "The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook," Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.

A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO) comprised of five performing ensembles, with over 250 gifted 4th-12th grade students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California region. The PYSO Symphony often performs on the popular television show GLEE.

The PSA provides people from all walks of life with powerful access points to the world of symphonic music.

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