HSO Pops Concert Features Amy Grant

In response to great patron interest, the HSO has reinstated the Pops Series which opens on Saturday, October 29, 2005 at 7:30 in the VBC Concert Hall with superstar Amy Grant, one of the loveliest and most enduring figures in popular music. Initially most successful in the "Christian pop" genre, Amy Grant is one of the first Contemporary Christian Music artists to successfully cross over into mainstream pop music. She has won multiple Grammy and Dove awards and was elected to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2003. She has five gold and six platinum albums.

Sponsored exclusively by SAIC, Miss Grant and the HSO will present a concert that showcases the top hits of an amazing 28-year career. This is Miss Grant's first first Symphony show tour.

Appearing with the HSO on New Year's Eve is the exciting Irish and Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers and her band Immigrant Soul. The nine-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion and Riverdance star has been called a "sensation" by Billboard magazine and "the Jimi Hendrix of the violin" by The New York Times. Ms. Ivers' band represents a unique blend of African and Latin percussion and bass, Irish instrumentals, and soulful American vocals. The exclusive sponsor of the New Year's Eve concert is The Boeing Company.

Imagine The Beatles playing in concert with a symphony orchestra. What would that have sounded like? Fans can find out when Classical Mystery Tour performs live with the HSO on Saturday, May 13, 2006. Featuring original members of the Broadway show Beatlemania, the show takes the audience on a journey from the early years through the Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road days. Classical Mystery Tour has been described by the Los Angeles Times as "more than an incredible simulation."

Pops Single tickets and subscription packages are available. Tickets may be purchased by phone at 539-4818, in person at the HSO offices and online at www.hso.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the door on concert night beginning at 6:30 p.m. Single ticket prices to Amy Grant range from $34 to $70 with group and student rates available. Three concert Pops subscription packages range from $54 to $150.

Artist Biographies

Amy Grant
From the time she picked up a guitar as a teenager and sang for her school friends to her multi-platinum albums, Amy Grant has always found a musical way to share her life. In the process, she's not only become an icon in Christian music but also one of the most celebrated artists in pop music today. Her first album, titled Amy Grant (1978), introduced the world to a fresh-faced and fresh-voiced young woman with a contagious faith and an engaging spirit. Following the album's success were nationwide tours and more hit albums, including Father's Eyes (1979) and Never Alone (1980).

In 1982, Miss Grant released what would become her signature album, Age to Age, resulting in her first Dove Awards, including Contemporary Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. In addition, she won a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance. The album Straight Ahead (1984) brought more sales records, radio hits, Dove and Grammy awards, and a performance of the album's hit, "Angels" on the Grammy Awards national broadcast.

Miss Grant's subsequent album Unguarded (1984) was her first “cross-over” vehicle, resulting in mainstream radio hits, an MTV video, a place on the Billboard charts, and several television appearances. Next came one of Miss Grant's most critically acclaimed albums, Lead Me On (1988), that contained unmistakable folk leanings and stark vulnerability of lyrics. The multi-platinum Heart In Motion (1991) made Miss Grant a mainstream pop star, and included “Baby, Baby,” a number one hit on Billboard's chart. House of Love (1994), Miss Grant's fourteenth album, included the title duet with country superstar and husband Vince Gill.

Miss Grant's television work include her prime-time network Christmas special A Christmas to Remember (1999); her portrayal of a blind music teacher in A Song From the Heart (1999); and her reality show Three Wishes (September 2005), in which a town is granted three wishes.

In anticipation of her 25th anniversary in the business of making music, Miss Grant came full circle with the 2002 release of Legacy Hymns and Faith, a collection of favorite hymns presented in a comfortable mix of Americana, folk, bluegrass and gospel. The much-anticipated 2003 release, Simple Things, her seventeenth album, was three full years in the making. In the fall of 2004, Miss Grant released Greatest Hits 1986-2004, a collection of songs spanning her pop music career.

Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, Nine Time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion, London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony at The Kennedy Center, Boston Pops, musical star of Riverdance, The Chieftains, Hall and Oates, Afrocelts, Patti Smith, Paula Cole, founding member of Cherish the Ladies, performances for Presidents and Royalty worldwide … this is a short list of accomplishments, headliners, tours and affiliations.

Fiddler Eileen Ivers has established herself as the pre-eminent exponent of the Irish fiddle in the world today. It is a rare and select grade of spectacular artists whose work is so boldly imaginative and clearly virtuosic that it alters the medium. It has been said that the task of respectfully exploring the traditions and progression of the Celtic fiddle is quite literally on Eileen Ivers’ shoulders. The Washington Post states, “She suggests the future of the Celtic fiddle.” The daughter of Irish immigrants, Eileen Ivers grew up in the culturally diverse neighborhood of the Bronx, New York. Rooted in Irish traditional music since the age of eight, Eileen proceeded to win nine All-Ireland fiddle championships, a tenth on tenor banjo and over 30 championship medals, making her one of the most awarded persons ever to compete in these prestigious competitions. The intrigue of learning more about the multicultural sounds of her Irish-American childhood eventually took hold. After graduating magna cum laude in mathematics from Iona College and while continuing her postgraduate work, Eileen fully immersed herself in the different genres of music that she experienced growing up in New York.

In 1999 Eileen created a touring production to present this music, which developed into Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul. A mix of African and Latin percussion and bass, Irish instrumentalists, and American soulful vocals, the group headlines major performing arts centers, guest stars with numerous symphonies, performs at major festivals worldwide and has appeared on national and international television. Eileen has also shared the stage with two of the world’s most celebrated violinists, classical virtuoso Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and jazz great Regina Carter, in the critically acclaimed “Fiddlers Three.” This show continues to fascinate symphony audiences throughout the U.S.

Ivers’ recording credits include over 80 contemporary and traditional albums and numerous movie scores. Her latest CD, entitled Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, continues to display why Ivers is hailed as one of the great innovators and pioneers in the Celtic and World music genres. ZETA Music, the world’s leading electric stringed instrument maker, has recently introduced the Eileen Ivers Signature Series blue violin.

Classical Mystery Tour
Starting with their first show at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, Classical Mystery Tour has been a hit with both critics and fans. The Los Angeles Times called the show "more than just an incredible simulation...the swelling strings and soaring French horn lines gave Saturday's live performance a high goose-bump quotient...the crowd stood and bellowed for more."

Although the Fab Four musicians in Classical Mystery Tour look and sound just like The Beatles, Classical Mystery Tour is more than just a rock concert. The full show presents some thirty Beatles tunes sung, played, and performed exactly as they were written. Hear Penny Lane with a live trumpet section; experience the beauty of Yesterday with an acoustic guitar and string quartet; enjoy the rock/classical blend on the hard edged I Am the Walrus. From early Beatles music on through the solo years, Classical Mystery Tour is the best of The Beatles like you've never heard them: totally live.

Classical Mystery Tour features Jim Owen (John Lennon) on rhythm guitar, piano, and vocals; Tony Kishman (Paul McCartney) on bass guitar, piano, and vocals; Tom Teeley (George Harrison) on lead guitar and vocals; and Chris Camilleri (Ringo Starr) on drums and vocals.

"We really make an effort to sound exactly like the originals," explains Owen, who admits that he and the other three Classical Mystery Tour members are big Beatles fans. "The orchestra score is exact, right down to every note and instrument that was on the original recording. On Got to Get You Into My Life, we have two tenor saxes and three trumpets. That's what it was written for, and that's what we use. And on A Day in the Life, can you imagine that big orchestra crescendo happening live?"

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