The Old Globe to Present Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert Tonight

The Old Globe presents a one-night-only Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert tonight, Monday, Aug. 19 at 7:00 p.m. that features several prominent San Diego artists covering the songs of the legendary musician. The concert coincides with the Globe's upcoming production of The Last Goodbye, a fusion of Buckley's music with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert, which benefits the Globe's student Shakespeare programs, will take place in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.

Ticket prices start at $20 and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

The bands scheduled to perform at the Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert include Jeff Berkley, Israel Maldonado and Fernando Apodaca with Todd Hannigan, Veronica May, Eve Selis, The Sinclairs, Gayle Skidmore, Superunloader and Pete Thurston. The concert will be emceed by Cathryn Beeks, host of KPRi-FM's "The Homegrown Hour," and Chris Cantore, U-T San Diego's Director of Lifestyle & Entertainment.

"Jeff Buckley's music is as powerful as it is beautiful, and all of us at the Globe are counting the days until we get to hear it on our stage in The Last Goodbye," said Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "In the meantime, I'm delighted that we'll get to hear some of San Diego's most exciting musicians go to town with Buckley's songs and show America's Finest City once again that its arts community-both onstage and in concert-is part of what makes the place so fine."

Jeff Buckley was born in Orange County, California on November 17, 1966 and died in Memphis on May 29, 1997. He had emerged in New York City's avant-garde club scene in the 1990s as one of the most remarkable musical artists of his generation, acclaimed by audiences, critics and fellow musicians alike. His one and only full-length, full-band studio album, Grace, released in 1994, includes his haunting cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Buckley and his band spent the following two years touring the world in support of the album, and though he was largely ignored by U.S. audiences, who were fully involved in the grunge movement, his sensitive and soaring vocals, virtuoso guitar and gripping performance style were critically acclaimed throughout Europe, the U.K. and Australia. He was awarded France's prestigious Grand Prix International du Disque de l'Académie Charles Cros in 1995, as well as platinum record plaques from France, the U.K. and Australia. In May of 1997 in Memphis, on the verge of recording his second studio album, Buckley perished in an accidental drowning while taking a late-night swim in the Wolf River Marina. The songs he had been working on were posthumously released as Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk in 1998, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Today, Grace is ranked among the 500 greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, and Buckley's recording of "Hallelujah" was voted number one among the top 100 vocal performances of all time by Mojo magazine (U.K.).

The Last Goodbye is a musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet featuring the incendiary songs of Jeff Buckley. That light in yonder window is still the east and Juliet is still the sun. . . but the sound in her bedchamber is all new: the sweeping, emotional and extraordinarily beautiful songs of the late rock icon. This unique work of theater is a remarkable fusion of the classic and the modern, melding Shakespeare's tragedy, in its original text and period, with some of the most passionate rock music of the past 20 years, staged with limitless invention by Alex Timbers, one of the true stage visionaries at work today.

Conceived and adapted by Michael Kimmel, The Last Goodbye is directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatcher, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). Choreography is by Sonya Tayeh ("So You Think You Can Dance"), and orchestrations, music direction and arrangements are by Kris Kukul. The musical runs Sept. 20 - Nov. 3, 2013 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 75 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. The Globe brings world-class theater to its community through innovative initiatives designed to overcome barriers to arts attendance. Numerous world premieres such as Into the Woods, The Full Monty, Nobody Loves You and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.

Pictured: Composer and lyricist Jeff Buckley. Photo by Niels Van Iperen.