Bryan 'Hurricane Andrew Hero' Norcross Co-Hosts Katrina Event

NEW WORLD SYMPHONY PRESENTS

SYMPHONIC RELIEF:  A HURRICANE BENEFIT CONCERT
 
Saturday, September 24 at 8 PM

Lincoln Theatre, 541 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach

WLRN-FM to broadcast concert live in Miami and nationally

Radio broadcast to be co-hosted by

BRYAN NORCROSS, WFOR Channel 4 Chief Meteorologist

and Live from Lincoln Center commentator MARTIN BOOKSPAN

 
In response to the devastation and displacement in the Gulf Coast
region from Hurricane Katrina, the New World Symphony will present
Symphonic Relief: A Hurricane Benefit Concert on Saturday, September 24 at 8
PM.  WLRN-FM will broadcast the performance live in Miami and elsewhere
in the U.S.  Tickets to this benefit concert are $15, and the entire
proceeds from ticket sales will be donated by the New World Symphony to
the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.  Additional funds raised
during the radio broadcast will also benefit the many thousands of
survivors still in need.

For this special concert and broadcast, the entire New World Symphony,
led by NWS Principal Guest Conductor Alasdair Neale, will perform a
program featuring the popular Symphonic Dances from Leonard Bernstein's
West Side Story and a stirring Suite from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo
and Juliet.  Also on the bill is Lichtenstein Triptych, a new work by
American composer Kenji Bunch inspired by the paintings of Pop artist
Roy Lichtenstein.  Mr. Bunch will join the concert via Internet2 from
Columbia University and will introduce his work to the concert audience.

The entire event will be broadcast live on WLRN-FM in Miami and made
available to public radio stations nationwide.  The radio broadcast will
be co-hosted by noted hurricane expert and WFOR Chief Meteorologist
Bryan Norcross and by classical music expert and Live from Lincoln Center
commentator Martin Bookspan.  During the intermission, the broadcast
audience will hear appeals from NWS Artistic Director Michael Tilson
Thomas and Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts,
Jr., as well as from NWS alumni affected by Hurricane Katrina and from
others (MTT's appeal will be pre-recorded).

Representatives of the American Red Cross of Greater Miami & The Keys
will be on hand at the concert to collect additional donations.  Radio
listeners will be able to call 1-800-HELP-NOW to donate to the Red Cross
or send a check to The American Red Cross Greater Miami & THE Keys is
located at 335 SW 27th Avenue, Miami, FL 33135. Telephone: 305-644-1200.

SYMPHONIC RELIEF:  A HURRICANE BENEFIT CONCERT

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 at 8 PM

Alasdair Neale, conductor

Bryan Norcross, broadcast co-host

Martin Bookspan, broadcast co-host

Kenji Bunch: Lichtenstein Triptych

Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Sergei Prokofiev: Suite from Romeo and Juliet

TICKETS: $15

To purchase tickets, call the NWS Box Office at 305-673-3331, visit the
Lincoln Theatre Box Office at 541 Lincoln Road, or visit
http://www.nws.edu.  For additional press information, contact Marc
Fest, Vice President of Communications, at 305-673-3330 x233 or
marc.fest@nws.edu.

ARTIST AND BROADCAST HOST BIOGRAPHIES

ALASDAIR NEALE, conductor

Alasdair Neale is Principal Guest Conductor of the New World Symphony,
Music Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra,
and Music Director of the Marin Symphony.

Mr. Neale's Marin Symphony appointment follows 12 years as Associate
Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director of the San
Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.  Under Mr. Neale's direction, the
Youth Orchestra became one of the finest young ensembles in the world,
receiving consistent rave reviews for performances in San Francisco, as
well as on tour in Moscow, Madrid, Paris, Prague, St. Petersburg, Dublin,
Copenhagen, Leipzig and Amsterdam.

Mr. Neale has been guest conductor with orchestras around the world,
including the Houston, San Antonio, Sydney, Trondheim, Long Beach,
Eugene, Honolulu, Colorado Springs and Pacific Symphonies, the Saint Paul and
San Francisco Chamber Orchestras, the Royal Scottish National and
Florida Orchestras, as well as the l'Orchestre Métropolitan du
Grand-Montréal, Radio Sinfonie Orchester Stuttgart, Long Island Philharmonic,
Auckland Philharmonia, Orchestra of St. Gallen (Switzerland), MDR Leipzig,
NDR Hannover, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse and the Ensemble
Orchestral de Paris. Highlights of Mr. Neale's upcoming guest conducting
schedule include engagements with the Seattle Symphony, San Antonio Symphony,
Columbus Symphony and the Florida West Coast Symphony.

Mr. Neale holds a bachelor's degree from Cambridge University and a
master's from Yale University, where his principal teacher was Otto-Werner
Mueller. He lives in San Francisco.

BRYAN NORCROSS, broadcast co-host

One of the world's foremost hurricane experts, Bryan Norcross literally
"talked South Florida through" Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and, since that
time, his level-headed advice, professional presence and measured
delivery have earned him the trust of South Florida television viewers.

As Director of Meteorology for WFOR, CBS4, in Miami, Mr. Norcross
provides weather forecasts on the 5 and 6 PM CBS4 newscasts, serves as
Executive Producer for the station's hurricane specials, is intimately
involved in station hurricane planning, and leads CBS4's round-the-clock
coverage whenever a storm threatens. He also works closely with the CBS4
weather team to ensure the station's state-of-the-art forecasting and
meteorological capabilities.

In addition, Mr. Norcross is the on-air Hurricane Consultant for CBS
News in New York, appearing frequently during hurricane season on CBS
News programs including the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and 48 Hours.
He also appeared frequently as the primary fill-in weatherman on the
CBS Early Show with Bryant Gumbel and Jane Clayson.

Mr. Norcross was named Expert Advisor to the Academic Task Force on
Hurricane Catastrophe Insurance by Florida State Treasurer and Insurance
Commissioner Bill Nelson, and a member of the Governor's Committee to
evaluate state response and recommend changes to the state emergency
system by Governor Lawton Chiles.

In appreciation for his work before, during and after Hurricane Andrew,
Mr. Norcross received the 1993 David Brinkley Award for Excellence in
Communication. He was also publicly recognized with designations of
Bryan Norcross days in Miami, Miami Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale, among other
cities. In addition, he's the recipient of an Emmy Award from the
Suncoast Chapter of the National Association of Arts and Sciences, and the
DuPont and Peabody awards, the highest awards given in broadcasting. In
2003, he was inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Academy of
Television Suncoast Chapter for career excellence in Television.

Recently, Mr. Norcross has served on the Board of Directors of the
Wolfsonian FIU museum on Miami Beach and has been involved in numerous
charitable organizations in South Florida.

Mr. Norcross has a Bachelor of Science degree in Math and Physics and a
Master's degree in Communications and Meteorology from Florida State
University. A resident of Miami Beach, he has lived in Florida most of
his life.

MARTIN BOOKSPAN, broadcast co-host 

Martin Bookspan has been commentator for Live from Lincoln Center since
the very first broadcast in January, 1976. Martin's lifelong love and
appreciation for music and all the performing arts have fueled and
shaped his distinguished career in both print and broadcast media, which has
included associations with the Boston Symphony, the New York
Philharmonic, classical music radio station WQXR, and television Channel 7 News
and Channel 11 News in New York City. Mr. Bookspan is the author of 101
Masterpieces of Music and Their Composers (Doubleday) and Consumer
Reports Reviews: Classical Recordings (Consumers Union), as well as
biographies of Zubin Mehta and André Previn, written with Ross Yockey.

In the non-broadcast arena, Mr. Bookspan has served as a consultant to
the Arts Program of the Rockefeller Foundation, as a panelist on
numerous programs of the National Endowment for the Arts, as Director of the
Concert Division of ASCAP, and as board member of a variety of musical
organizations. He currently serves as Chairman of the Advisory
Committee of the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

 
Established in 1987 under the artistic leadership of Michael Tilson
Thomas, the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy, is an
intensive, multi-faceted three-year fellowship program that prepares highly
gifted graduates of distinguished music programs for leadership
positions in orchestras and ensembles throughout the world. Since its
inception, more than 640 New World Symphony fellows have established careers as
musicians and educators in professional orchestras, ensembles and arts
institutions in the United States and abroad. The New World Symphony is
internationally recognized for developing new models of orchestral
training, including its pioneering use of Internet2, an advanced
communications technology. NWS is an accredited member of the National
Association of Schools of Music and a member of the American Symphony Orchestra
League. Additional information is at http://www.nws.edu.

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