World Premiere of Grammy-Winner Victor Vanacore's LA SORGENTE Set for John Anson Ford Theatre

Grammy Award-winning conductor/composer Victor Vanacore, at the nexus of popular and classical music for 30 years, conducts the highly anticipated world premiere of his latest work, La Sorgente, a collection of 10 neo-classical arias composed to the poetry of Pope John Paul II, on Sunday, October 8, 2017, 7:30 pm, at the John Anson Ford Theatres in Hollywood. Vanacore, an "epic" artist (Calgary Herald) whose music has been described as "ethereal" (Stage and Cinema), conducts a 35-piece orchestra of leading session musicians brought together just for this performance, two sopranos and three tenor soloists. Guest artists include sopranos Lisa Eden, hailed for her "warm, velvety tone...and thrilling dynamic facility" (Washington Post), and Zipporah Peddle, noted for "a beautiful operatic voice and serious acting chops" (Talkin' Broadway). The featured tenors are Bernardo Bermudez, praised as "compelling...and instantly believable" (Los Angeles Times); Ashley Faatoalia, who possesses "a voice of winning purity and variety of expression" (Opera News); and Maximo Marcuso, who has "taken his place among the big voices in opera" (La Opinion). Vanacore has collaborated as a conductor, pianist, composer and arranger with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including The Jackson 5, Natalie Cole and Ray Charles, whose only platinum album entitled "Genius Loves Company" features Vanacore's orchestral arrangements, including the Grammy-winning "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," as well as the St. Louis and San Francisco symphonies and Los Angeles Philharmonic, to name a few.

The 10 poems featured in the 90-minute La Sorgente come from Pope John Paul's book of meditations, Trittico Romano: Meditazioni (The Roman Triptych: Meditations), widely regarded as his spiritual last testament. The meditations, expertly transformed into arias by Vanacore, are both secular and sacred, recounting stories from the Pope's personal experiences in the great outdoors, of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and the Old Testament. Timeless and inspiring, they illuminate the universality of man and man's relationship to nature.

Profoundly moved by the Pope's poetry, Vanacore, in conjunction with veteran producer Kate Atkinson and longtime friend and colleague Richard Allegro (together as Production Company Back East Entertainment), acquired all worldwide media rights to Karol Wojtyla's (Pope John Paul II) words in Trittico Romano: Meditazioni from the Vatican's publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Back East Entertainment received a Los Angeles County Arts Commission grant, enabling La Sorgente to be premiered as part of the John Anson Ford Theatres' Artists Partnership Program, at the historic 1,200-seat amphitheatre located in the Cahuenga Pass. Allen Walls will direct the semi-staged work.

PRICING:

Ticket prices start at $48 (reserved seating). Tickets are available at FordTheatres.org or call 323-461-3673 (for non-visual media 323-GO-1-FORD). To learn about discounts for groups of 10 or more, please visit FordTheatres.org.

Photo courtesy of Victor Vanacore