Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana Join NSO Holiday Pops in Concert

By: Nov. 28, 2016
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Frequent collaborators, Broadway stars, and Tony Award nominees Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana join the NSO Pops and Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke for the National Symphony Orchestra's annual A Holiday Pops! concerts on Friday, December 9, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, December 10, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

This dynamic duo most notably performed together on Broadway in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. This year with the NSO Pops they perform a program of festive seasonal classics and lead an audience sing-along of family favorites. Special guests also include the Washington Chorus, Julian Wachner, director, and possibly jolly old Saint Nick!

In addition, a special performance of A Holiday Pops!, Home for the Holidays, featuring the NSO Pops, Osnes, and Fontana-exclusively for service members and their families-takes place on Thursday, December 8, at 7 p.m. Part of the NSO's Notes of Honor: NSO Salutes the Military initiative, this performance is presented in collaboration with the USO of Metropolitan Washington, and is free and open to all active, veteran, prior service, and retired service members and their families; advance reservations are required. A valid military I.D. is required to redeem reserved tickets the evening of the performance.

About the NSO Pops

Show-stopping pops concerts have been a staple of the National Symphony Orchestra's more than 80 years of performances. These concerts have ranged from performances on a barge on the Potomac River, to concerts on the Ellipse, and in National Parks around the greater Washington area. The 2000-2001 season saw the creation of the post of Principal Pops Conductor specifically for Broadway great Marvin Hamlisch, who held the position until the 2010-2011 season. The 2011-2012 season was the first with Steven Reineke as Principal Pops Conductor. NSO Pops performances take place at all the NSO's principal performance venues: Wolf Trap, the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, and in the NSO's primary home, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with a subscription season featuring the Orchestra with guest artists from a variety of musical genres.

ABOUT Laura Osnes

Laura Osnes was last seen on Broadway as the title role in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (Drama Desk Award; Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Astaire Award nominations). She also starred in Bonnie and Clyde (Tony Award nomination), creating the role at Asolo Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award). She appeared as Hope Harcourt in the Tony Award-winning revival of Anything Goes (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Astaire Award nominations) and Nellie Forbush in Lincoln Center Theater's production of South Pacific, and made her Broadway debut as Sandy in the most recent revival of Grease. Other New York/regional credits include the Broadway-bound musical The Bandstand at Paper Mill Playhouse; The Threepenny Opera (Drama Desk Award nomination) at the Atlantic Theater Company; City Center Encores! productions of The Band Wagon, Randy Newman's Faust, and Pipe Dream; The Sound of Music in concert at Carnegie Hall; Carousel opposite Steven Pasquale at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Broadway: Three Generations at the Kennedy Center. On television, she has been seen on the CBS series Elementary, in the HBO pilot The Miraculous Year, Sondheim: The Birthday Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, HBO's documentary Six By Sondheim, and the Kennedy Center Honors salutes to Barbara Cook (2011) and Dustin Hoffman (2012).

Osnes's many concerts and cabarets include performing with Michael Feinstein, the New York Philharmonic, The New York Pops, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, The Boston Pops, and the Pasadena Pops, as well as appearing in such venues as Carnegie Hall, The Café Carlyle, 54 Below, Lincoln Center, NJPAC, The Smith Center in Las Vegas, and Minnesota's Orchestra Hall. In addition to being heard on several cast recordings, Osnes has two solo albums, Dream A Little Dream: Live at The Café Carlyle and If I Tell You: The Songs of Maury Yeston.

ABOUT Santino Fontana

In 2005 as a member of the Essentials, Santino Fontana co-wrote the musical comedy Perfect Harmony, and originated the role of Philip Fellowes V. In 2006 he starred as Matt in the Off-Broadway revival of The Fantasticks. His Broadway debut was Sunday in the Park with George in 2007. Fontana originated the role of Tony in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot from October 1, 2008 to July 4, 2009. He was awarded the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his work in Brighton Beach Memoirs. He starred as Prince Topher in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In 2013 he provided the voice of Prince Hans in the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Frozen.

In 2015 Fontana became the first guest artist to perform three times in the space of one year with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He also joined the cast of the CW musical dramedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that same year, starring alongside Rachel Bloom.

Tickets are available online at kennedy-center.org, in person at the Kennedy Center Box Office, and by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos



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