Contact:Gretchen Miller Basso
Public Relations Director
The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
Phone: 407/896-6700 x 223
Fax: 407/896-5512
gmiller@orlandophil.org
www.orlandophil.org
(Orlando, FL – February 25, 2011) –The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Winter Park invite you to celebrate the arrival of spring at their annual outdoor Spring Pops concert on Sunday, March 13, at 7:00 PM in Winter Park’s charming Central Park. This concert is made possible by the Charlotte Julia Hollander Trust and is FREE and open to the public. Bring a blanket and a picnic and get ready for a delightful concert that is sure to cap off a beautiful spring weekend!
Winter Park resident Kenneth Murrah will be honored at this concert for his outstanding dedication to and support of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. A four-term member of the Philharmonic’s Board of Directors, Murrah has purchased charitable gift annuities to fund the Kenneth F. Murrah Endowment for benefit of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra at the Community Foundation of Central Florida at his death. Mr. Murrah has chosen to endow the Principal Timpani Chair.
“The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is proud to honor the life and work of Kenneth Murrah,” says David Schillhammer, Executive Director. “His decades-long commitment to Winter Park is legendary. His quiet leadership, passion for music and his community involvement are virtually unparalleled. We are thrilled to honor him with the Kenneth and Ann Hicks Murrah Principal Timpani Chair, in perpetuity.”
Guest conductor Paul Hostetter leads the Orlando Philharmonic in a program of music from your favorite movies and stage musicals. Audiences will enjoy music from Carousel, The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, in addition to beloved songs Strike Up the Band and That’s Entertainment. Vocalist Michelle Knight joins the Philharmonic to sing When You Wish Upon a Star and Over the Rainbow, and Sammy Cahn’s Three Coins in a Fountain, High Hopes, Call Me Irresponsible, and All The Way.
Candice Crawford, President, Orlando Philharmonic Board of Directors, also takes a turn at the podium for this entertaining concert. Crawford conducts Alford’s Colonel Bogey March. Crawford is President of CJCrawford, LLC, a Consulting and Real Estate Investments firm. She served as Assistant Secretary of the State of Florida from 2003 to 2005, and prior to that was City Clerk of the City of Orlando and Deputy Secretary of both the Florida Department of Highway Safety and the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
Crawford has been a member of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Board of Directors since 2005, serving on the organization’s Development and Marketing Committees. She is also a member of the University of Central Florida Alumni Association, The Florida State University Seminole Boosters and the Friends of Museum of Florida History.
“ I am humbled to stand in front of our wonderful orchestra and filled with excitement to have this honor,” says Crawford.
Orlando native Paul Hostetter is the Ethel Foley Distinguished Chair in Orchestral Conducting for the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, the Conductor and Artistic Advisor for the acclaimed Sequitur Ensemble, Music Director of the Big Broadway Band, and the Founder and Artistic Adviser to the Music Mondays chamber series in New York City. Maestro Hostetter has appeared as a guest conductor with numerous orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the New York City Opera, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Peak Performances, the Genesis Opera Company, the Prism Chamber Orchestra, the New York Virtuosi, the Daylesford Sinfonia (Bermuda), and has assisted James Levine with the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Ensemble. These performances have garnered rave reviews in multiple publications including the NY Times and the NJ Star Ledger. He holds degrees in performance from the Florida State University and the Juilliard School of Music
Orlando native Michelle Knight has most recently been seen on stage with the Orlando Philharmonic starring as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls. She spent time on Broadway in the Tony award winning Jersey Boys. National Tours include Rizzo in Grease (starring Frankie Avalon), and as Connie Boylan/Star to Be in the 30th anniversary tour of Annie. You can currently see Michelle performing as Dory in Finding Nemo the Musical at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and with the Voices of Liberty at EPCOT. Locally, she has worked with Mad Cow, the Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Winter Park Playhouse, and at Seaside Music Theater.
Audiences are sure to enjoy this program of beautiful music in the lovely outdoor setting of Winter Park’s Central Park. For more information, phone the Orlando Philharmonic at 407-896-6700.
