Richard Symphony to Present BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY, 5/16

April 29, 2015 - Richmond, Virginia Join everyone's favorite "Wascally Wabbit" and his friends Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Pepe Le Pew, Tweety, Sylvester and more on Saturday, May 16 at 6:00 p.m. at Richmond CenterStage's Altria Theater.
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II celebrates the world's favorite classic Looney Tunes, projected on the big screen, while the Richmond Symphony performs their exhilarating, original Carl Stalling scores live.

Conducted by Erik Ochsner and created by George Daugherty and David Ka Lik Wong, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II spotlights such iconic classics as What's Opera, Doc?, The Rabbit of Seville, Rhapsody Rabbit, Long-Haired Hare, Show Biz Bugs, Baton Bunny, Duck Amuck, and many others... plus two brand-new, critically- acclaimed 3D cartoons from Warner Bros.---I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat and Coyote Falls. Capping it all off are special guest appearances by Tom & Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl.

Tickets start at $12 for children and $25 for adults online at richmondsymphony.com or by calling 1.800.514 ETIX.

The Richmond Symphony concert is sponsored by Rick Hendrick Chevrolet Buick GMC. The media sponsors are Boomer Magazine and NBC12.

About BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II - The newest edition of a global favorite!

BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II is a spectacular fusion of classical music and classic animation that celebrates the most famous and beloved cartoons in the world - and their equally famous music. Conducted by Erik Oschner, and created and produced by Daugherty and Emmy AwardTM winning producer David Ka Lik Wong, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II is a celebration of the world's favorite Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters on-screen with live full symphony orchestra accompaniment.

This production is the second critically-acclaimed sequel to Bugs Bunny on Broadway, the record-setting orchestra-and-film concert that pioneered a whole new genre of symphony orchestra entertainment when it debuted on Broadway in 1990. In 2010, this concert franchise - which has played to over 2.5 million people world wide - received standing ovations and rave reviews when a new version - Bugs Bunny at The Symphony - received it's double world premiere at The Hollywood Bowl with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at The Sydney Opera House, with The Sydney Symphony.

And in 2013 came yet another new version which has delighted audiences everywhere. This latest incantation celebrated this show's 24-year-legacy of Looney Tunes and orchestral music together in concert. Retaining the most indelible moments from the original production, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II includes Chuck Jones' inspired What's Opera, Doc? and The Rabbit of Seville, while adding in other Warner Bros. classics like Friz Freleng's Rhapsody Rabbit, and the virtuoso orchestral roller coaster ride of the Road Runner epic, Zoom and Bored. Bugs Bunny is joined on-screen by his immensely popular cohorts, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, and many others. New to the concert are special guest appearances by Tom and Jerry In The Hollywood Bowl, three of the funniest Daffy Duck epics ever made - Show Biz Bugs, Duck Amuck, and Robin Hood Daffy - and a trio of love songs by the world's most scent-challenged crooner, Pepe Le Pew.

In addition, two spectacular new 3D-CGI Looney Tunes - I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat and Coyote Falls - round out an evening that has been selling out around the world since it premiered in July, 2013 at The Hollywood Bowl (again with The Los Angeles Philharmonic.)

This concert has one of the widest demographics of any film-and-orchestra presentation in the market place, as it continues to not only pull "all ages," but "new audiences" into the classical music world's most iconic concert halls, with the leading orchestras of the world. In almost a quarter century of being on the road, the Bugs Bunny concert franchise, playing in repeat engagements with the LA Phil, The National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestras, the orchestras of Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Minnesota, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Sydney, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Seattle, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa (NACO), and many dozens of others, and with a four performance sold-out run with the New York Philharmonic debut in May 2015, has proven that sometimes, boisterous laughter in the concert hall IS a very good thing!

LOONEY TUNES and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
TOM AND JERRY and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Turner Entertainment Co.

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About Erik Ochsner

Erik Ochsner made his debut with Bugs Bunny at the Symphony in 2014, conducting the production with The Detroit Symphony. Erik has also served as the production's principal pianist in engagements with The Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Erik's versatility as a conductor has stretched across a broad range of repertoire: from conducting as few as five performers in contemporary and modern works, to leading 300 performers in "live to projection" concerts of films like Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of

the Caribbean. About his recent New York City performance of The Rite of Spring, The New York Times wrote: "All the hallmarks of a great Rite were here."

Erik is equally comfortable on the concert stage, or leading opera, oratorio and multi- media performances, and has appeared with orchestras and ensembles in Adelaide, Albuquerque, Beijing, Indianapolis, Kaohsiung, Leipzig, Melbourne, New York, Ottawa, Reykjavik, Rochester, St. Louis, Shanghai, Stockholm, Tampere, Wellington, and at Wolf Trap.

In 2014, he conducted Pixar in Concert at the Krakow (Poland) Film Music Festival. In 2015, he conducted Star Trek (2009) with the Oregon Symphony, as well as with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, at Toronto's Sony Centre.

In 2013, he conducted concerti of Mozart at the Round Top Music Festival for Juilliard faculty flutist Carol Wincenc, Empire Brass French horn player Eric Reed, and Metropolitan Opera English horn player Pedro Diaz. Erik also conducted sold-out performances of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring: Live to Projection at Wolf Trap.

Ochsner has an ongoing relationship with Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana, presenting live-to-projection concerts. As part of Clowes Hall's 50th Anniversary celebration, Ochsner was invited to lead the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in Pixar in Concert, and also to appear in a PBS television documentary The Show Goes On. Erik made his debut with the Indianapolis Symphony at Clowes Hall with performances of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He is also the Artistic Advisor of the Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation in Miami, Florida.

As Music Director and founder of the SONOS Chamber Orchestra, he leads concerts in not-often heard repertoire, frequently featuring Scandinavian composers. He has conducted SONOS in five world premieres, and eleven U.S. premieres, including Requiems by Fredrik Sixten and Karl Jenkins. SONOS also recently accompanied Harold Lloyd's 1920 silent film His Royal Slyness at the United Palace Theater, a 1929 movie house jewel in NYC's Washington Heights.

Previously, Erik served as Assistant Conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. He also toured worldwide as rehearsal conductor for composer/conductor Tan Dun - which led him to being an Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony for performances with Yo-Yo Ma. He was also Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master for the Shanghai workshop Metropolitan Opera commissioned The First Emperor, in addition to Tea: A Mirror of Soul.

Erik is of American and Finnish descent and a graduate of Park Tudor School and Dartmouth College. He attended the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors where he studied under Charles Bruck. He studied with the great Baroque specialist Helmuth Rilling, and has been a student and assistant of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Spano.

He currently resides in New York City.

About George Daugherty

Conductor George Daugherty is one of the classical music world's most diverse artists. In addition to his 25-year conducting career which has included appearances with the world's leading orchestras, ballet companies, opera houses, and concert artists, Daugherty is also an Emmy Award-winning / five-time Emmy nominated creator whose professional profile includes major credits as a director, writer, and producer for television, film, innovative and unique concerts, and the live theater.

Since 1993, he has conducted over 20 performances at The Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (most recently in summer 2013 with two performances), and an equal number with The National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap (also, most recently, in 2013 with a pair.) His current and recent conducting schedule includes his debut with The New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in 2015, plus multiple performances with St. Louis Symphony (returning for the fourth time), Pittsburgh Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra at both Severance Hall and the Blossom Festival, The Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, as well as appearances with dozens of other orchestras in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. He has

been a frequent guest conductor at the Sydney Opera House since 1996, and in both 2002 and 2005, he returned to guest conduct the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. In 2010, he returned to the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House for performances of two different programs, and recorded a new CD with the orchestra. Recently, he also made his debuts with the Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, West Australia Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and multiple engagements with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at both the National Concert Hall, and the new Grand Canal Theatre, both in Dublin, Ireland. He is a frequent guest conductor de Bellas Artes Opera House in
Mexico City, where he frequently conducts the Orquesta del Teatro de Bellas Artes in ballet and opera productions. In 2012-13, he served as Music Director of Ballet San Jose, where he conducted over 60 performances with the company, with Symphony Silicon Valley in the orchestra pit. In summer 2013, he made his debut conducting The Russian National Orchestra at the internationally acclaimed Napa Valley Festival del Sol, presiding over the reconstruction of a long-lost Fokine ballet with music by Rachmaninoff, plus an international ballet gala.

He has also been a frequent conductor of London's Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with whom he first made his debut in Royal Festival Hall, and most recently conducted a 15-city U.S. and Canadian concert tour with the orchestra and guest artists Dame Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church, dancers of the Royal Ballet, and the Westminster Choir and Bell Ringers.

Daugherty has also conducted for scores of major American and international symphony orchestras, ballet companies, and opera houses, including numerous performances with the Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, American Ballet Theatre, Munich State Opera and Ballet, Fort Worth Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Moscow Symphony, Kremlin Palace Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, Adelaide Symphony, the RCA Symphony Orchestra, Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, Mexico City's Bellas Artes Opera House, Montreal Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Rochester

Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Tucson Symphony, New Orleans Symphony, Venezuela Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Seoul Prime Philharmonic, and major Italian opera houses in Rome, Florence, Turin, and Regio Emilia. He has been Music Director of a number of major American ballet companies, including The Louisville Ballet, The Chicago City Ballet, and Ballet Chicago.

As a director, writer, and producer of music-based television programs, Daugherty has created several major productions for the ABC Television Network project, including a primetime animation-and-live action production of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, which he created, co-wrote, conducted, and directed, and for which he won a Prime Time Emmy Award, as well as numerous other major awards.

He also collaborated with The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan on a television series adaptation of her celebrated children's book Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat. The Emmy Award-winning series debuted on PBS in the fall of 2001 as a daily-animated children's television series. Daugherty executive produced, and also wrote a large number of the animated tales.

Daugherty also received an Emmy nomination for Rhythm & Jam, his ABC television network specials which taught the basics of music to a teenage audience.

In 1990, Daugherty created, directed, and conducted the hit Broadway musical Bugs Bunny On Broadway, a live-orchestra-and-film stage production which sold-out its extended run at New York's Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, and has since played to critical acclaim and sold-out houses all over the world. The Bugs Bunny symphonic concert tradition continued when Daugherty and producing partner David Lik Wong launched a new version, "Bugs Bunny At The Symphony," in 2010, with double World Premieres at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Bugs Bunny at The Symphony II in 2013, again with a world premiere at The Hollywood Bowl, with the LA Phil. Daugherty is also the executive producer, conductor, and creator of the touring concert Rodgers & Hammerstein on Stage and Screen.

Daugherty has lived in San Francisco for the past 12 years.

About David Ka Lik Wong

Bugs Bunny At The Symphony Executive Producer David Ka Lik Wong was awarded with a coveted Emmy Award for his work as producer on Peter and the Wolf in 1996,
and was also nominated for an Emmy in 1994 for his work as producer of Rhythm & Jam, the ABC series of Saturday morning music education specials for children.

He teamed with George Daugherty as principal producer for the Peter and the Wolf project, the animation and live-action production starring Kirstie Alley, Lloyd Bridges, Sleepless in Seattle's Ross Malinger, and the new animated characters of legendary animation director Chuck Jones. He also produced the interactive CD-ROM version of the production for Time Warner Interactive.

He was also the senior Producer for the Warner Bros. documentary film The Magical World of Chuck Jones, directed by George Daugherty and starring interviews by Steven Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, George Lucas, and Ron Howard, among many others.

He has been Producer for the Warner Bros. touring production Bugs Bunny On Broadway since 1991, as it has toured the world, and co-produced the audio CD album and tape for Warner Bros. Records. Mr. Wong has also produced innovative symphony orchestra concerts for some of the world's leading orchestras, including the National Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Sydney Opera House, the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Wales Millennium Centre, Sinfonia Britannia, and many others. Most recently, he produced critically acclaimed Christmas concerts for Canada's National Arts Centre, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He is also Executive Producer and the co-creator of the touring concert Rodgers & Hammerstein on Stage and Screen.

Mr. Wong has teamed with George Daugherty, Amy Tan, and the legendary Sesame Workshop to produce and create the new Emmy Award winning PBS / Sesame Workshop children's television series Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, based on the

book by Ms. Tan, which premiered on PBS in the fall of 2001, and has since been one of the most highly rated children's television series on all broadcast networks. Mr. Wong also wrote a number of episodes for the series and story-edited all 80 segments.

Mr. Wong is also the producer of the new WaterTower Music CD release of Bugs Bunny At The Symphony. In addition to his Emmy Awards and nominations, he has won numerous other awards during his career, including the Grand Award of both the Houston and Chicago International Film Festivals, a Silver Award of the Chicago Film Festival, two Parents' Choice Awards, and the Kids First Award.

Mr. Wong was born in Hong Kong, and moved to San Francisco with his family as a teenager. He still calls San Francisco home.

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About the Richmond Symphony

Founded in 1957, the Richmond Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia. The organization includes an orchestra of more than 70 professional musicians, the 150-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus and more than 260 students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. Each season, more than 200,000 members of the community enjoy concerts, radio broadcasts, and educational outreach programs. The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.