for immediate release / april 21, 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Contact:
Public Relations National Press Representation:
San Francisco Symphony Shuman Associates
Louisa Spier Lisa Jaehnig
(415) 503-5474 (212) 315-1300
[email protected] [email protected]
www.sfsymphony.org/press
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / April 21, 2014
(Cover art above and images from the San Francisco Symphony’s performances of West Side Story are available for download from the San Francisco
Symphony’s West Side Story online press kit)
MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY RELEASE LIVE RECORDING OF THE FIRST EVER COMPLETE CONCERT PERFORMANCES OF
WEST SIDE STORY FEATURING CHEYENNE JACKSON, ALEXANDRA SILBER, JESSICA VOSK, AND JULIA BULLOCK JUNE 10, 2014
Exclusive early digital release available from iTunes starting May 20
pre-order at iTunes.com/SFSymphony SAN FRANCISCO, April 21, 2014 – Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony
(SFS) will release a new live recording of the first-ever concert performances of Leonard Bernstein’s complete score for
the musical West Side Story featuring a stellar Broadway cast including Cheyenne Jackson and Alexandra Silber, and the
San Francisco Symphony Chorus, on June 10, 2014. This collector’s edition two-disc set available from the SFS Media
label includes a 100-page booklet featuring a new interview with MTT, notes from Rita Moreno and Jamie Bernstein, as
well as a West Side Story historical timeline, archival photographs, complete lyrics, and rehearsal and performance
photos. Beginning May 20, West Side Story will be available for an exclusive early download from
iTunes.com/SFSymphony where it is now available for pre-order. The iTunes release is Mastered for iTunes and offered
as an interactive iTunes LP with bonus visuals and content provided when viewed in iTunes. The recording can also be
pre-ordered on disc from the San Francisco Symphony’s online store at sfsymphony.org/store for delivery by the release
date of June 10. This audiophile SACD recording, playable on both standard CD and SACD devices.
The performances were recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall in late June and early
July 2013 after Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony became the
first orchestra to receive permission from all four West Side Story rights-holders to
perform and record the musical score in its entirety in a concert setting. Of the new
recording, Michael Tilson Thomas said, “This is a new and rare opportunity to hear
Bernstein’s complete score sung by a sensational young cast and a knock-your-socks-
off orchestra. The San Francisco Symphony totally understands and feels this music.
We show the Broadway roots of the piece and how its universal qualities translate into
the way we think about it today.”
Making his San Francisco Symphony debut in West Side Story is Cheyenne Jackson
(TV’s Glee, 30 Rock) singing the role of Tony. Of performing the role with MTT and the
SFS Jackson says, “I think this is the best musical of all time. Period. I’m a Broadway
Baby, and I’ve done many, many shows. And there are a couple that come close, but
when it comes to book, music, lyrics, West Side Story is absolutely timeless. Everybody knows every word. This isn’t a
polarizing musical or something people have lukewarm feelings about, you just love West Side Story. Even after knowing
the score all these years, I’m still uncovering things about the score I never heard before. So, to have the opportunity to
perform it, under the great Michael Tilson Thomas, and also with this Symphony, how could I not?! ” The cast includes a
host of exciting Broadway voices all making their San Francisco Symphony debuts including Alexandra Silber in the role
of Maria, Jessica Vosk as Anita, Kevin Vortmann as Riff and Julia Bullock as A Girl. The recording also features members
of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus as Jets and Sharks.
Of the performances, Jamie Bernstein said, “Michael really understands my father’s music - how to conduct it and how to
bring it to life. It was such a treat to hear the entire score of West
Side Story performed by the San Francisco Symphony on a
stage. It is the greatest way to hear this music.”
Tilson Thomas first met Leonard Bernstein several years after
the West Side Story premiere in 1957 and has championed the
iconic composer/conductor’s music throughout his career.
Highlights with the SFS include semi-staged performances of
On the Town in 1996 and, in 2008, Carnegie Hall’s opening
night all-Bernstein gala concert which was recorded and is
available on DVD from SFS Media.
ABOUT WEST SIDE STORY
In 1957, Leonard Bernstein's collaboration with choreographer Jerome
Robbins, writer Arthur Laurents, and lyricist Stephen Sondheim led to one
of the most beloved musicals in American theater. Inspired by William
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story is set in a blue-collar
neighborhood in 1950s New York. The story explores the rivalry between
two teenage street-gangs, the Sharks from Puerto Rico and a Polish-
American working-class group, the Jets. The young protagonist, Tony,
one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader
of the Sharks. The dark theme and sophisticated music reflected the
social issues of the time and marked a major turning point in American
musical theater. Bernstein's score for the musical includes songs
"Something's Coming,” "Maria," "America," "Somewhere," "Tonight," "Jet
Song," "I Feel Pretty," "A Boy Like That," “I Have a Love,” "One Hand,
One Heart," "Officer Krupke" and "Cool".
Bernstein’s music is firmly planted in both the worlds of modern classical music and Broadway musical theater. Many
singers and musicians have performed the songs and Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. The first recordings were
of the 1957 original Broadway cast and the 1961 movie soundtrack. The Symphonic Dances from West Side Story have
entered the repertoire of many major world orchestras, and been recorded by many including the San Francisco
Symphony under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. It wasn’t until 1984 that Bernstein recorded, for the first time, the complete
score from the musical with an operatic cast. This new release from the San Francisco Symphony is the first ever
recording of live concert performances of the complete musical score from West Side Story utilizing the original
instrumentation.
SOLOISTS
Cheyenne Jackson (Tony) is an actor, singer, and songwriter. In the fall of 2012, he starred
on Broadway opposite Henry Winkler, Ari Graynor, and Alicia Silverstone in David West Read’s
play The Performers. He also appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s movie Behind The
Candelabra, a Liberace biopic, with Michael Douglas and Matt Damon as well as the NBC TV
pilot Mockingbird Lane. On and Off Broadway, Jackson has starred in 8, Finian’s Rainbow,
Damn Yankees, Xanadu, The Agony & the Agony and many more. On television he can be
seen on NBC’s 30 Rock portraying series regular Danny Baker, and he portrayed Dustin
Goolsby, the new coach of Vocal Adrenaline on the TV series Glee. In concert, he has sold out
Carnegie Hall twice, in “The Power of Two” in 2010 with Michael Feinstein followed by his solo
debut concert with the New York Pops, in “Music of the Mad Men Era” in 2011. For his current
album on Sony/ATV, I’m Blue, Skies, he collaborated with Sia, Stevie Aiello, and Charlotte
Sometimes. Jackson returns to the San Francisco Symphony to perform two concerts of
favorite music from the movies with the Orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall July 24 and 25.
Alexandra Silber (Maria) graduated from Interlochen Center for the Arts with a Young Artist Award
and continued her training at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. She
garnered the Faculty Student of the Year award just days before her West End debut as Laura Fairlie
in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman in White. Silber made her feature film debut in Stephen
King's 1408, before portraying Hodel in The Sheffield Crucible’s 2007 production of Fiddler on the
Roof, and its subsequent West End production. She also appeared in Fiddler on the Roof and as
Julie Jordan in Carousel at The Savoy Theatre in London’s West End, for which she received the
TMA Award for Best Performance in a Musical. In 2012 she portrayed Jenny Cavilerri in the North
American Premiere of Love Story the Musical at The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. She
made her Broadway debut in 2011 joining Tony Award winner Tyne Daly in Terrence
McNally’s Master Class directed by Stephen Wadsworth and starred in a highly-
acclaimed performance of Arlington, a new one woman musical. Silber recently gave her latest one-woman solo concert
"The Land Where The Good Songs Go" at Feinstein's at The Nikko in San Francisco, recorded the vintage Edward
Thomas musical Six Wives opposite Judy Kaye and Alexander Gemignani, and made her Detroit Symphony Orchestra
debut in David Del Tredici's World Premiere of Dum Dee Tweedle. In 2013 she made her Carnegie Hall debut with the
American Symphony Orchestra, followed by She Loves Me at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts with The Orchestra
of St. Luke's.
Jessica Vosk (Anita) singer, dancer and actor, she is currently performing on Broadway in Bridges of
Madison County. Other recent credits include Man of La Mancha (TUTS) and New York City Center
Encores!’ productions of Merrily We Roll Along and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She also performed in
Roundabout's Death Takes a Holiday and She Loves Me. Vosk has performed with the New York
Philharmonic in Stephen Sondheim's Company, and has also had the pleasure of
performing in the new musical Kristina by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny
Andersson at Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall.
Soprano Julia Bullock (A Girl) who garnered accolades for her performance of “Somewhere” in this
production was recently named the first prize winner of the 2014 International Naumberg Vocal
Competition. Her 2013-14 season included the title role in Henry Purcell’s The Indian Queen,
directed by Peter Sellars at the Teatro Real in Madrid and at the Perm Opera and Ballet House in
Russia; the title role in Jules Massenet's Cendrillon presented by Juilliard Opera; debut recitals in the Young Concert
Artists Series in New York at Merkin Hall, in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center; with appearances at the the
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and the Marlboro Music Festival. She has performed contemporary works at the
Ojai Music Festival, and the MUSIC ALIVE! series, curated by composer Joan Tower and pianist Blair McMillen;
collaborated with early music ensembles, including the Clarion Music Society; and explored lesser-known repertoire with
the American Symphony Orchestra in their performance of Delage’s Quartre Poèmes Hindous. From 2003 to 2005, she
participated in the Artists-in-Training program with the Opera Theater of St. Louis, and graduated with the prestigious
Marielle Hubner Award. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, and her Master’s degree at
Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, where she was the first recipient of the Mimi Levitt Scholarship, and won
Bard College’s 2010 Concerto Competition. She currently studies at the Juilliard School with Edith Bers.
Kevin Vortmann (Riff) appeared in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music starring
Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury. His other New York City theater credits include On
the Town, Applause, Face the Music (including the Original Cast Recording), Lost in the Stars,
Fiorello!, and the Off-Broadway productions of Death Takes a Holiday and For Lovers Only. He
performed at Carnegie Hall, and at the Kennedy Center with the Baltimore Symphony, in
performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass (“Non Credo” soloist), the recording of which
received a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Album. He is the recipient of the Colorado
Theatre Guild’s Henry Award and the Detroit’s Oscar Wilde Award. He holds a Bachelor of Music
in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University.
THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CHORUS
The 150-member San Francisco Symphony Chorus is prized for its precision, power, and versatility. Led by Chorus Director
Ragnar Bohlin, the Chorus performs more than twenty concerts each season and is comprised of 30 professional and 120
volunteer members. Recordings featuring the SFS Chorus have won a total of eight Grammy awards, including three for
Best Choral Performance. They were featured most recently on the SFS Media’s recording of Beethoven’s Cantata on the
Death of Emperor Josef, and also on Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with MTT and the SFS, which won three 2010 Grammys,
including the award for Best Choral Performance. Previous Grammys awarded to the SFS Chorus include Best Choral
Performance for Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem in 1995, Best Choral Performance for Orff’s Carmina burana in 1992,
Best Classical Album with the SFS for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and Kindertotenlieder in 2004, and Best Classical Album
for their performance of Perséphone as part of a collection of Stravinsky’s music in 2000. More information about the San
Francisco Symphony Chorus can be found here.
ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
The San Francisco Symphony, widely considered to be among the most artistically adventurous and innovative arts
institutions in the US, celebrated its Centennial season in 2011-12. Led by Michael Tilson Thomas, who begins his 20th
season as Music Director in 2014-15, the SFS presents more than 220 concerts annually, and reaches an audience of
nearly 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall, through its multifaceted education and community programs, and a
global audience through its media initiatives and on national and international tours.
ABOUT SFS MEDIA
SFS Media is the San Francisco Symphony’s in-house label, launched in 2001. SFS Media records and releases audio
and visual material reflecting the Orchestra and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas’ commitment to showcasing music
by maverick composers as well as core classical masterworks. The recordings reflect the broad range of programming
that has been a hallmark of the MTT/SFS partnership. Recorded live in concert and engineered at Davies Symphony Hall,
the audio recordings are released on hybrid SACD and in high-resolution digital formats. SFS Media has garnered eight
Grammy awards. SFS Media also produces and releases documentary and live performance videos, including the SFS’s
national public television series and multimedia project Keeping Score, which included three seasons of television
episodes, eight documentaries, and eight concert films designed to make classical music more accessible to people of all
ages and musical backgrounds, available on DVD and Blu-ray. Other videos of the San Francisco Symphony available
from SFS Media include A Celebration of Leonard Bernstein: Opening Night at Carnegie Hall 2008 and San Francisco
Symphony at 100, a documentary about the Symphony’s history, which won a Northern California Emmy Award for
“Historical/Cultural Program or Special” in 2012.
All SFS Media recordings are available from the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and online at
sfsymphony.org/store, digitally from http://itunes.com/sfsymphony, and from all major retailers and other digital outlets
worldwide. SFS Media recordings are distributed by harmonia mundi in the U.S. and Canada, through Avie Records
internationally, and by The Orchard to digital retailers.
Title: West Side Story
Composer: Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Based on a conception of Jerome Robbins
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Entire Original Production Directed and Choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein with Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal
Artists: Cheyenne Jackson Tony
Alexandra Silber Maria
Jessica Vosk Anita
Kevin Vortman Riff
Juliana Hansen Rosalia
Cassie Simone Francisca
Louise Cornillez Consuelo
Justin Keyes Action
Zach Ford Diesel
Chris Meissner Baby John
Louis Pardo A-rab
David Michael Laffey Big Deal
Kelly Markgraf Bernardo
Julia Bullock A Girl
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director
San Francisco Symphony Chorus Jets, Sharks, Girls
Ragnar Bohlin director
Recorded: Recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall June 27-30 and July 2, 2013
File Under: Soundtracks, Classical
Label: SFS Media
Catalogue Number: SFS 0059
Release Date: June 10, 2014
May 20, 2014 available as a download from the iTunes Music Store.
To pre-order the disc for delivery on June 10 visit SFSymphony.org/store.
Distribution: harmonia mundi (North America)
Avie (International)
The Orchard (Digital)
Online: sfsymphony.org/store
Media copies: Members of the press may request a copy of the recording for review from Shuman Associates at
[email protected] or Louisa Spier at [email protected].
Connect with the San Francisco Symphony on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram:
The San Francisco Symphony receives support from over 10,000 individual donors and 150 partner institutions.
This recording of West Side Story is made possible by the Koret Foundation.
The San Francisco Symphony would also like to thank the following for making this recording possible:
Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein, Nina Bernstein Simmons, the Leonard Bernstein Office (Paul H. Epstein, Marie Carter, Garth
Edwin Sunderland, and Craig Urquhart), Stephen Sondheim, the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Inc. and David Saint, and The Robbins
Rights Trust (Allen Greenberg and Chris Pennington).
Emirates is the Official Airline of the San Francisco Symphony.
William Hill® Estate Winery is the Official Wine of the San Francisco Symphony.
San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com is the Official Media Partner of the San Francisco Symphony.
-SFS-