Henry Segerstrom News

Nine-time Grammy Award winning artist John Legend has announced dates for his 2014 North American tour titled 'An Evening with John Legend: The All of Me Tour.' The tour which begins March 20th in Temecula, CA and goes through early June will feature John in an intimate and acoustic setting, highlighted by guitar/vocal accompaniment as well as a string quartet. The tour will stop at Santa Rosa's Wells Fargo Center for the Arts on Tuesday, April 1, with an 8 p.m. performance, and other stops on the tour will include a night at the prestigious Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA on March 26th as well the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY on May 31st.

Nine-time Grammy Award-winning artist John Legend will appear at Segerstrom Center for the Arts for the first time when he performs on Wednesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. in the Rene?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. This engagement is part of his recently announced 2014 North American tour titled, An Evening with John Legend: The All of Me Tour, which begins March 20 and goes through June. Legend is featured in an intimate acoustic setting, highlighted by guitar/vocal accompaniment as well as a string quartet.

Nine-time Grammy Award winning artist John Legend has announced dates for his 2014 North American tour titled 'An Evening with John Legend: The All of Me Tour.' The tour which begins March 20th in Temecula, CA and goes through early June will feature John in an intimate and acoustic setting, highlighted by guitar/vocal accompaniment as well as a string quartet. Other stops on the tour will include a night at the prestigious Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA on March 26th as well the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY on May 31st.

Television celebrity and Broadway sensation Matthew Morrison joins Pacific Symphony Pops for a Valentine's Day spectacular of romantic show tunes and jazz standards. Best known for his popular role as Will Schuester, the optimistic and charming teacher on “Glee,” Morrison also brings An impressive Broadway resume to the stage. The Emmy-, Tony- and Golden Globe-nominated star has performed in smash hits including the original cast of “Hairspray,” “Footloose” and “The Light in the Piazza.” Morrison has released three albums, the most recent of which, “Where It All Began,” was praised by The Washington Post for “Morrison's handsome tenor backed by jazz combos, jazz big bands and orchestral strings.” An Orange County native, Morrison returns to his old stomping grounds to serenade the audience with his dazzling stage presence and a voice as smooth as chocolate.

Led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, Pacific Symphony's vocal initiative, “Symphonic Voices,” continues with Giuseppe Verdi's thrilling but tragic tale about a dying courtesan willing to give up everything for love in “La Traviata.” Featuring the composer's exquisite music, presented in a uniquely staged production over three nights, the orchestra is joined by a cast of world-class opera stars; including soprano Elizabeth Caballero as Violetta Valéry and tenor Rolando Sanz as Alfredo Germont. Plus, the Pacific Chorale and members of the California State University Fullerton (CSUF) University Singers help fill the concert hall with exhilarating voices as Verdi's dramatic tale unfolds. While the selection of “La Traviata” as this year's opera is a tip of the hat to Verdi's bicentennial celebration, it is also a work that St.Clair is intimately familiar with—having conducted it while general music director of the Komische Oper Berlin.

It's indeed a happy new year when the awesome genre-crossing Big Band sound of Pink Martini performs with Pacific Symphony for the first Pops concert of 2014! With eclectic flavors from around the world and classic spunk, Pink Martini really is the perfect concoction. The energetic and enthusiastic "little orchestra" finds its musical inspiration from cultures around the world, easily jumping from genres like pop, jazz and classical to establish its own unique blend of music. Formed in Portland, Ore., the 12-member ensemble has been a popular favorite in many countries for more than a decade with its revitalization of vintage Big Band sound, in combination with 1940s jazz, cross-cultural rhythms and much more! The group is known for songs that range from "Je ne veux pas travailler (I don't want to work)," the Doris Day hit "Que Sera, Sera," "Lets Never Stop Falling in Love" and "Hey, Eugene!"

Segerstrom Center's Off Center Festival returns for its third consecutive year today, January 23 - February 2. This year's festival will showcase an entirely new lineup of wonderfully creative and innovative contemporary performance companies and artists.

The standout young Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich will perform as soloist with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Principal Guest Conductor Boguslaw Dawidow in a cross-country tour of the United States from today, January 22nd to March 16th, 2014.

Fluff, a tale of lost toys, makes its West Coast premiere April 5 & 6 in Samueli Theater as part of Segerstrom Center's Family Series.

Do the Arts Make Us Better People? That is the question at hand when The New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean, Getty Trust President and CEO James Cuno and Segerstrom Center for the Arts President Terrence W. Dwyer take part in a Zocalo Public Square panel discussion about the role the arts play in shaping our lives. This special event takes place in Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center on February 11 at 7:30 p.m. and will be moderated by Jori Finkel, contributing arts writer for The New York Times. There will be a free reception following the discussion.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts has announced casting for the Orange County engagement of the first North American tour of the new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ. The show will play at Segerstrom Hall from February 11 - 23, 2014.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the award-winning worldwide smash hit Broadway musical, is coming to Orange County at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Produced by NETworks Presentations, this elaborate theatrical production will come to life on stage at Segerstrom Hall from tonight, January 14 - 19, 2014.

Donizetti's classically humorous opera, “The Elixir of Love,” is brought to life in Pacific Symphony's special adaptation for kids, “The Magic Potion,” designed to give children and their families a positive and entertaining introduction to the world of opera. Along with the most captivating arias, sung in English, this 45-minute performance includes original narration and dialogue intended to acquaint children with the first and most natural instrument a person can possess—the exquisite and powerful voice! Led by Assistant Conductor Alejandro Gutiérrez, “The Magic Potion” sends the audience on a hilarious journey with circus clowns, jugglers, a lion tamer, magicians and a magic potion, of course! Guests watch in anticipation as they wait to see if this magical elixir is, in fact, a concoction of wonder or just a silly trick.

Orange County, Calif.—Dec. 10, 2013—Singing lines of sweet emotion transform into a joyful and abundantly virtuosic showpiece—Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto—which soars in the hands of electrifying violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who also leads Pacific Symphony from the concertmaster's chair for the remainder of the program. Esteemed as “the heart's jewel” by the great violinist Joseph Joachim, Mendelssohn's concerto is led by Assistant Conductor Alejandro Gutiérrez, who makes his classical series debut during this first concert of the New Year, “Nadja Plays Mendelssohn.” Described as an artist whose talent “will make you hang breathlessly on every note” (Los Angeles Times), Salerno-Sonnenberg stands out for her passionate and powerful sound, her risk-taking musical prowess and her dynamic presence. Apart from being an international soloist, she is also the music director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra and founder of record label NSS Music. Salerno-Sonnenberg leads the Symphony in two pieces that emphasize the strings: Rodion Shchedrin's fiery “Carmen” Suite based on Bizet's opera and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's “Prologue and Variations.”

The International Dance Series at Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes the return of The Hamburg Ballett with the American premiere of John Neumeier's Liliom, February 7 - 9, with four performances at Segerstrom Hall. Neumeier, the company's director and chief choreographer, based his work on Ferenc Molna?r's play of the same name, which was also the inspiration for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway classic, Carousel. The music for the ballet is an award-winning original score by the Academy Award-winning composer Michel Legrand. Casting has been announced and Alina Cojocaru (Julie) and Carsten Jung (Liliom) will reprise their roles for select performances.

The adventurous St. Lawrence String Quartet marks its third Segerstrom Center appearance with an exciting program that includes a world premiere of composer James Matheson's new string quartet commissioned for the Center's Chamber Music Series by long-time subscribers Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting.

It's indeed a happy new year when the awesome genre-crossing Big Band sound of Pink Martini performs with Pacific Symphony for the first Pops concert of 2014! With eclectic flavors from around the world and classic spunk, Pink Martini really is the perfect concoction. The energetic and enthusiastic “little orchestra” finds its musical inspiration from cultures around the world, easily jumping from genres like pop, jazz and classical to establish its own unique blend of music. Formed in Portland, Ore., the 12-member ensemble has been a popular favorite in many countries for more than a decade with its revitalization of vintage Big Band sound, in combination with 1940s jazz, cross-cultural rhythms and much more! The group is known for songs that range from “Je ne veux pas travailler (I don't want to work),” the Doris Day hit “Que Sera, Sera,” “Lets Never Stop Falling in Love” and “Hey, Eugene!”