The Pittsburgh Symphony and Mellon Jazz Welcome Diana Krall, Johnny Mathis and Manhattan Transfer to Heinz Hall
24 April 2004 - 2:40AM
PR Newswire (US)
The Pittsburgh Symphony and Mellon Jazz Welcome Diana Krall, Johnny
Mathis and Manhattan Transfer to Heinz Hall - Mathis and Manhattan
Transfer to perform with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Krall
concert coincides with the release of her newest CD - PITTSBURGH,
April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Mellon Financial Corporation's strong
partnership with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will bring some
of the jazz world's most exciting performers to Pittsburgh this
summer as Mellon Jazz welcomes Johnny Mathis, The Manhattan
Transfer and Diana Krall to Heinz Hall. Mathis and The Manhattan
Transfer will perform in concert with The Pittsburgh Symphony,
Mathis on Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26, and The Manhattan
Transfer on Thursday, August 5. The summer's third Mellon Jazz
event at Heinz Hall, Clear Channel's presentation of Diana Krall,
will take place on Sunday, August 22 at 7:30 p.m. "Our partnership
with the Pittsburgh Symphony has always been a vital part of the
Mellon Jazz program," said Rose M. Cotton, Mellon senior vice
president and director of Corporate Affairs. "This year's exciting
lineup of Heinz Hall attractions continues and builds on that
important relationship." Larry Tamburri, Pittsburgh Symphony
Orchestra President remarked, "Pittsburgh enjoys a rich jazz
heritage. I am so pleased to see the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
partner with Mellon to keep this tradition alive." Approaching the
half-century mark of one of the most remarkable careers in American
music, Johnny Mathis arrived at the studios of Capitol Records in
1956 as a promising young jazz singer, and on his first album sang
a collection of jazz-flavored standards from the American songbook.
Honing his craft in the great New York jazz clubs, Mathis went on
to become one of the world's most popular male vocalists. His
"Greatest Hits" album spent an unprecedented 490 continuous weeks
(nearly 10 years) on the Billboard Top Albums Chart, and he
recorded a Top 40 hit during each of the four decades that followed
his 1955 debut. He has performed at numerous State Dinners,
entertained the British Royal Family at a command performance, and
sang for America's six living first ladies at a tribute event in
their honor. Twice inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, Mathis
was last year's recipient of the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement
Award. The first group to ever win Grammy Awards in both pop and
jazz categories in the same year, The Manhattan Transfer has been
delighting audiences with their distinctive jazz vocalizations for
more than 30 years. The group's signature harmonizations blend the
talents of four enormously talented performers: Tim Hauser, who
organized the group in the early 1970s; Janis Siegel, who moved
from folk to jazz in becoming part of the Transfer; Alan Paul, a
third founding member who joined the Transfer fresh from the cast
of the original Broadway production of "Grease"; and Cheryl
Bentyne, welcomed to the group in the late 1970s. Multiple Grammy
Award winners during the 1980s, the group made Grammy history in
1985 with their album "Vocalese," receiving 12 nominations,
second-most nominated single album ever. Their 1991 album "The
Offbeat of Avenues" demonstrated the extent of the group's talent,
winning Best Contemporary Jazz Performance Grammy honors for
"Sassy," a piece featuring lyrics by Janis Siegel and Cheryl
Bentyne and music by Siegel and Bill Bodine. The group's studio
recordings span the jazz landscape from swing to the spirit of
Louis Armstrong, and their live performances have made them a
favorite of jazz fans around the world. Canadian singer/acoustic
pianist and pop music megastar Diana Krall has taken her
straight-ahead jazz releases to the top of pop music charts and
performed to sellout audiences at some of the world's most renowned
concert venues. Billboard magazine's reigning Top Jazz artist,
Krall was born near Vancouver, British Columbia, and began studying
the piano at age 4. Awarded a scholarship to the Berklee College of
Music in Boston, Krall moved on from Boston after two years and
spent the next three years in Los Angeles. Living in Toronto at the
time of her 1993 debut album, she soon headed to New York and a
hugely successful series of recordings on the GRP label. Her
platinum- record 1998 release, "When I Look in Your Eyes," spent 52
weeks atop Billboard's jazz chart, was nominated for a Grammy as
Best Album of the Year, and earned Krall a Grammy for Best Jazz
Vocal Performance. Her 2002 recording, "Live in Paris," won the
2003 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Scheduled for release
this spring, her newest CD, "The Girl In The Other Room," features
her original compositions, including six songs co-written by her
husband Elvis Costello. Diana Krall is being presented as a Mellon
Jazz event by Clear Channel. Tickets can be purchased: By Phone:
412-392-4900 In Person: Heinz Hall Box Office hours are M-F 8am-6pm
/ Sat. noon-4pm Online: http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/ Johnny
Mathis ON SALE DATE: APRIL 26 $32, $42, $52, $62, $90 Diana Krall
ON SALE DATE: APRIL 23 $56, $72.50, $120 Manhattan Transfer $39,
$49, $59, $100 DATASOURCE: Mellon Financial Corporation CONTACT:
Michelle Cragle of Pittsburgh Symphony, +1-412-392-4827, or ; or
Ron Sommer of Mellon Financial Corporation, +1-412-236-0082, or Web
site: http://www.mellon.com/ http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/
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