Kimmel Center Presents Opens the Holiday Season with A Colonial Holiday
November 23, 2005
Portion of the Program is Devoted to the Year-Long Celebration of Ben Franklin’s 300th Birthday
PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL NOW ONLY BE ONE PERFORMANCE OF COLONIAL HOLIDAY ON DECEMBER 9 AT 7:30PM. DECEMBER 8 HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
Kimmel Center Presents rings in the holiday season with a new edition of last season’s musical time machine, A Colonial Holiday on Friday, December 9 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater. Local conductor Marc Mostovoy and director Yuri Sergeyev will take audiences on a musical and visual journey back to Philadelphia during the days of the Revolutionary War and featuring a special blend of musicians and vocalists period actors, historians, educators, musicologists, video and sound specialists.
The program is narrated by Benjamin Franklin, played by Benjamin Lloyd, and features Soprano Cara Latham, Mezzo-soprano Suzanne DuPlantis, Tenor Bryan Hymel, Bass-Baritone Michael Riley, dancers from the Pennsylvania Dance Conservatory and the Girard Academic Music Program Concert Choir. A large portion of the program is devoted to Ben Franklin 300 Philadelphia, a city-wide, year-long celebration of Franklin’s 300th birthday, including a demonstration of a working Franklin musical invention, the glass armonica, played by pianist Carolinn Skyler. Audience members can also participate in an old-fashioned sing along of Christmas and Channukah songs and will receive a beautiful program book with detail on the history and composers of the colonial period.
A Colonial Holiday is the second performance in the Kimmel Center Presents See Hear! series. See Hear! offers innovative multi-media events which incorporate creative visual, theatrical and musical elements on stage. The series continues with Mozart Reloaded on Saturday, January 21, 2006 at 7:30pm and Pop G featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Group on Friday, May 5, 2006 at 7:30pm.
Tickets for A Colonial Holiday are priced at $46 and $36. Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings (additional fees may apply). For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A Colonial Holiday was created by Marc Mostovoy and produced by Kimmel Center Presents to broaden the appeal of classical music to more diverse audiences by incorporating visual and theatrical elements and providing high quality educational yet entertaining concerts.
Marc Mostovoy (conductor) is Founder and past Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (formerly Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra) and now heads the See Hear! program for the Kimmel Center. In 1983 he began experimenting with new approaches to classical music presentation, adding visual elements to orchestral and choral performances. A Colonial Holiday emanates from a special musical/historical presentation he prepared for the National Park Service for America’s Bicentennial in 1976. Mr. Mostovoy wrote the script and selected the music for today’s program as well as determined the video sequencing.
Bolshoi Ballet Academy graduate, Yuri Sergeyev was Artistic Director of the legendary dance academy in Voronezh, Russia for 22 years, where he prepared students for professional careers in ballet and theatrical folk dance. His students won prestigious prizes at international ballet competitions in Varna, Lausanne and Moscow. His choreographic responsibilities in Russia included the Opening Ceremonies of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, on-ice programs for the Russian figure skating team and dances for ballet and opera companies. He has been teaching in the Philadelphia area for the past ten years.
Benjamin Lloyd has worked in many of the region’s theaters, including Walnut Street Theatre, The Arden, InterAct, The Wilma and People’s Light and Theatre, where Ben is a member of the Resident Company. In 2005, Ben appeared in Marie Jones’ Stones in his Pockets at The Walnut Street Theatre, and he just finished appearing in Jason and the Golden Fleece at People’s Light. Next year, he will appear in The Crucible also at People’s Light. His book, The Actor's Way, will be published in 2006. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
Tickets for A Colonial Holiday are priced at $46 and $36. Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings (additional fees may apply). For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased 2.5 hours prior to evening performances and 11:30am for matinees.
Ben Franklin 300 Philadelphia is a year-long celebration of Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday in Philadelphia and Its Countryside. The celebration is led by the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary, a non-profit consortium established to reaffirm Franklin’s enduring legacy in his 300th birthday year with an array of special projects that form the official national celebration. The key component is Benjamin Franklin: in Search of a Better World, interactive exhibition making its world premiere at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia from December 15, 2005, through April 30, 2006. For more information about Tercentenary events, visit www.benfranklin300.org.
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is the official marketing agency for Ben Franklin 300 Philadelphia, working in conjunction with the Tercentenary to expand and promote the year-long Ben Franklin experience in the region. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com/ben. Sponsors of the 2005/2006 Kimmel Center Presents season include Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Sovereign Bank, The American Express Company, and Verizon Foundation. Special Student Matinees at the Kimmel Center are generously supported by Merck & Co., Inc. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. In-kind support is generously provided by Deloitte and Southern Wine and Spirit. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
See Hear! Series
Friday, December 9, 2005 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
A Colonial Holiday
Marc Mostovoy, conductor
Yuri Sergeyev, director
Benjamin Lloyd, narrator
The Federal Overture Benjamin Carr (arr. Saturen)
Pastoral from the Christmas Concerto Archangelo Corelli
Rule Britannia Thomas Arne
God Save the King Anonymous
See, the Conquering Here Come George Frideric Handel
from Judas Maccabeus
Hallelujah Chorus George Friederic Handel
Greensleeves Anonymous (arr. Vaughan Williams)
Minuet in D Major, K. 94 Wolfgang Amadeud Mozart
The Sleigh Ride Leopold Mozart
Minuet and Hornpipe Johann Christian Fischer
Concerto for Two Trumpets Antonio Vivaldi
Judea William Billings
Psalm 23/ 114 Francis Hopkinson
(arr. Skyler for Glass Armonica)
God Save America Anonymous
The Liberty Song John Dickinson/William Boyce
Chester William Billings
The Battle of Trenton James Hewitt (arr. Saturen)
Light in the Darkness Traditional (arr. Saturen)
O Chanuka, O Chanuka
Rock of Ages
Go Tell It on the Mountain Traditional (arr. Saturen)
O Come All Ye Faithful Traditional
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The First Noel
O Little Town of Bethlehem Phillips Brooks/Louis Redner
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Felix Mendelssohn
Feliz Navidad Jose Feliciano (arr. Saturen)
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