The New York Pops Announces New Summer Home at Forest Hills Stadium

INAUGURAL SEASON INCLUDES TWO ORCHESTRA CONCERTS

The New York Pops with Sutton Foster – August 6, 2015

The New York Pops with Pink Martini – August 7, 2015

ONE THOUSAND FREE TICKETS FOR QUEENS KIDS through EXPANDED KIDS IN THE BALCONY PROGRAM

The New York Pops is proud to announce its inaugural season at its new summer home, Forest Hills Stadium, in Queens, NY. The orchestra will establish a summer series at the open-air venue and will offer affordable, fun concerts as well as an expansion of its Kids in the Balcony program, offering over 1,000 children an opportunity to learn about and enjoy live music for free.

“I am thrilled to announce The New York Pops’ inaugural season at its official summer home, Forest Hills Stadium,” said Executive Director Anne M. Swanson. “We are tremendously excited to be embarking on this new venture in such a fantastic, historic venue. I cannot imagine a more wonderful summer home for The New York Pops.”

On the heels of her sold-out Carnegie Hall solo debut with the orchestra, Sutton Foster will join
The New York Pops on August 6 at the legendary stadium, led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, in an evening of Broadway standards and some of her favorite tunes. The following night, on August 7, Pink Martini returns to New York City to join the orchestra in a night of eclectic and fun music under the stars, spanning many genres, languages and styles.

“I’m beyond delighted that The New York Pops will perform at Forest Hills Stadium this summer,” said Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke. “We have a great orchestra, with 78 amazing musicians, and we have so many loyal fans. We’re selling out our Carnegie Hall concerts, so I’m thrilled that we’ll be able to share our music with a larger audience in such a legendary venue this summer and for many more summers to come. In addition, I’m so pleased that we will share the stage with our talented guest artists, Sutton Foster and Pink Martini! This new concert series will give us the opportunity to grow and expand in ways that we have always dreamed, and I know everybody in the stadium will have a great time.”

Kids in the Balcony is a concert-going experience that provides tickets to 100 students for each New York Pops subscription concert at Carnegie Hall. PopsEd Teaching Artists conduct pre-concert and post-concert visits to teach students about the orchestra and connect content of the particular performance to general elements of musical knowledge. Over 1,400 students attend New York Pops concerts at Carnegie Hall each season. With the addition of a 1,000-student Kids in the Balcony program at Forest Hills Stadium, The New York Pops will reach over 50% more students.

Forest Hills Stadium events have been made possible through a partnership with the local community, with a focus on making concerts an experience to be enjoyed by all New Yorkers. Dedicated entrance and exits have been constructed to manage audience flow and a sound mitigation project is underway which is designed to lower the overall noise levels around the stadium during concerts. The stadium is conveniently located feet from the E, M, F, and R subway trains as well as the Long Island Rail Road, and concert-goers are strongly encouraged to utilize public transportation as there is no parking available at the stadium or in the surrounding community.

TICKETS

Tickets are on sale through Ticketfly at www.foresthillsstadium.com and range from $10 to $129. 

ABOUT THE NEW YORK POPS

THE NEW YORK POPS is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Under the leadership of dynamic Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, The New York Pops continues to re-imagine orchestral pops music. The orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall. The New York Pops is dedicated to lifelong learning, and collaborates with public schools, community organizations, children’s hospitals and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. PopsEd allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun. Visit www.newyorkpops.org for more information. Follow The New York Pops on Facebook (facebook.com/newyorkpops), Instagram (@thenewyorkpops), and Twitter (@newyorkpops).

STEVEN REINEKE is the Music Director and Conductor of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Principal Pops Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Pops Conductor Designate of the Houston Symphony, beginning in the 2017-2018 season. Mr. Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has been on the podium with the Boston Pops, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia. His extensive North American conducting appearances include San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, Edmonton and Pittsburgh.

ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS

SUTTON FOSTER

Sutton Foster is an award-winning actor, singer and dancer who has performed in 11 Broadway shows - most recently the revival of Violet - and originated roles in the Broadway productions of The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Young Frankenstein, Shrek The Musical, and her Tony Award-winning performances in Anything Goes and Thoroughly Modern Millie.  She was first seen on television on Star Search at age 15, and has more recently appeared in Bunheads, Psych, Johnny and the Sprites, Flight of the Conchords, Sesame Street, Law and Order SVU and Royal Pains.  As a solo artist, Sutton has performed all over the country as well as internationally with her musical director Michael Rafter… featuring songs from her debut solo CD Wish as well as her follow up CD, An Evening With Sutton Foster: Live at the Café Carlyle. She has graced the stages of Carnegie Hall, Feinstein's, Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series, Joe’s Pub and many others. In 2011 she received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Ball State University where she also is on faculty as a teacher and advisor to the Department of Theatre and Dance. Sutton is currently starring in TVLand’s new series, Younger created by Darren Star.

PINK MARTINI

In 1994 in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale founded the “little orchestra” Pink Martini to provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for political fundraisers for causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education and parks. One year later, Lauderdale called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate who was living in New York City, and asked her to join Pink Martini. Their first song “Sympathique” became an overnight sensation in France, was nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards, and to this day remains a mantra (“Je ne veux pas travailler” or “I don’t want to work”) for striking French workers.  Says Lauderdale, “We’re very much an American band, but we spend a lot of time abroad and therefore have the incredible diplomatic opportunity to represent a broader, more inclusive America… the America which remains the most heterogeneously populated country in the world… composed of people of every country, every language, every religion.” Featuring a dozen musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011; four sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia; multiple sold-out appearances, and a festival opening, at the Montreal Jazz Festival, two sold-out concerts at Paris’ legendary L’Olympia Theatre in 2011; and Paris’ fashion house Lanvin’s 10-year anniversary celebration for designer Alber Elbaz in 2012. In its twentieth year, Pink Martini was inducted into both the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

ABOUT FOREST HILLS STADIUM

From Billie Jean King to The Beatles, Jimmy Connors to Jimi Hendrix, Chris Evert to The Rolling Stones, for decades the stadium at the West Side Tennis Club was not only host of the U.S. Open, it was also a renowned music venue, tucked into a leafy neighborhood of stately homes in Queens' Forest Hills neighborhood. However, when the U.S. Open moved to larger space in Flushing, Queens in 1977, the architecturally stunning, horseshoe-shaped Forest Hills Stadium fell into disrepair and its days as a music venue faded. In 2013, concert promoters partnered with the West Side Tennis Club to rehabilitate the stadium and bring events back to this storied venue.

Forest Hills Stadium reopened in August 2013 with an inaugural performance by Mumford & Sons on their “Full English” tour. The concert, the first in the stadium in over 15 years, brought music fans from all over the world to Forest Hills, Queens to experience live music in a truly unique environment. The 2014 concert season featured performances by Zac Brown Band, Drake, Lil Wayne, Brand New, Modest Mouse, The Replacements and Phil Lesh. Following its reopening, the stadium underwent a restoration, including a number of renovations and improvements. These included ticketed seating in the upper bowl, improved ADA seating options, widened aisles and handrail installation as well as a new concourse plan featuring easier access to food, beverage and other facilities. Ticketing was improved through a new, fan-friendly reserved ticketing system provided by Ticketfly.

http://www.newyorkpops.org        http://www.foresthillsstadium.com

The New York Pops is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely through the generosity of individual donations, institutional grants, and concert income. Dates, artists, and programs are subject to change.