John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra celebrate the culmination of their 10th Anniversary Season with a spectacular "Fireworks Finale - The First Ten Years!" on Friday and Saturday, September 14 and 15, 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, September 16, 7:30 p.m. Special guests for this "party" are 12-year-old country music sensation Billy Gilman, Tony Award-winning actress/singer Nell Carter, and Marni Nixon, who has enjoyed world renown for dubbing the singing voices of such movie stars as Deborah Kerr in The King and Iand Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, as well as for her multi-faceted work as a vocalist in her own right. They are joined by the Cal State University Fullerton Singers, John Alexander, director. The "almost-end-of-the-season party" features a diverse array of music from Hollywood, Broadway and around the world, and concludes with a spectacular fireworks show.

Highlights of the evening include solo turns by Gilman, Nixon and Carter each accompanied by Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Mauceri and the orchestra present a program emblematic their commitment to America’s musical heritage: Oklahoma! (Rodgers) - the Bowl Orchestra is the only orchestra to have recorded all Rodgers & Hammerstein overtures: My Fair Lady (Loewe), a restoration of film orchestrations that received a world concert premiere in 1997; Schoenberg’s Fanfare for a Bowl Concert, premiered at the Bowl in 1991; Korngold’s Fanfare from King’s Row, a 1998 world concert premiere commissioned for the Bowl Orchestra; from Ben-Hur (Rozsa), Overture and Miracle and Finale, which received an American concert premiere in 1994, Parade of the Chariots, and Love Theme, which, played over the phone to the composer in 1992, at the time incapacitated due to poor health, encouraged him to begin attending concerts at the Bowl; and “Hooray for Hollywood” (Mishkin) with fireworks, in an arrangement commissioned for the Bowl Orchestra in 1999.

Tickets ($3-85) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations) or online at www.hollywoodbowl.com. Groups of 10 or more may receive a 20% discount on single ticket prices; call 323/850-2050 for details. For general information or to request a brochure, please call 323/850-2000.

The Friday and Saturday concerts are Lexus Passionate Performances. Friday's concert is generously sponsored by Pepsi. Sunday's concert is generously sponsored by Kendall-Jackson Wines & Vineyard. Media Sponsors are KLON 88.1 FM (September 14), Daily News and 94.7 The WAVE (September 15), and KCSN 88.5 FM and KFWB News 98 (September 16).

Twelve-year-old singer BILLY GILMAN first gained recognition for a performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards. His debut single “One Voice” entered the Billboard charts, making him the youngest person ever to have a song on the magazine’s country singles chart. Gilman has made frequent television appearances on TNN and several variety shows, and has also recorded a Christmas album. He makes his Hollywood Bowl debut at this concert.

NELL CARTER is best known for her Tony Award-winning performance in the Fats Waller musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ and her long-running television series Gimme a Break. She recently appeared in the off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues, performing in both New York and with the road company. Carter grew up singing in coffeehouses in her native Birmingham, Alabama. Since her arrival in New York, she has appeared in numerous Broadway musicals such as Hello Dolly!, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Rhapsody in Gershwin. She last sang at the Hollywood Bowl during the 1994 summer season.

California-born MARNI NIXON enjoys world renown for her dubbing of the voices of such movie stars as Deborah Kerr in The King and I and An Affair to Remember, Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and Natalie Wood in West Side Story. Nixon appears as a musical comedy and cabaret performer, opera diva, stage actress, symphony guest artist in both classical and “pops” repertoire, recitalist, recording artist, television raconteuse (and chanteuse), and also teaches voice and gives master classes. Recently, Nixon created the role of Mrs. Wilson in the world premiere of Richard Wargo’s opera Ballymore at Skylight Opera in Milwaukee, performed as the wife in Michael Nyman’s opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat at Lincoln Center and the American Music Festival, and appeared as Fraulein Schneider in a touring production of Cabaret. During her distinguished career, Nixon has appeared with Leonard Bernstein, Lukas Foss, Zubin Mehta, André Previn, Leopold Stokowski and Igor Stravinsky, among many others. She makes her return to the Hollywood Bowl this summer, after a 20+ year absence.

JOHN MAUCERI’s accomplishments extend nationally and internationally, not only to the world's greatest opera companies and symphony orchestras, but also to the musical stages of Broadway and Hollywood, before large television and radio audiences, and in recording studios and major publications. Mauceri has received substantial recognition for his work as one of the principal forces behind the movement to preserve two of America's great art forms, the American musical and music for the American cinema. He is equally at home conducting artists ranging from Plácido Domingo (during a live broadcast of the Grammy Awards) to Madonna (with whom he recorded the soundtrack to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita), from Garth Brooks (an inaugural inductee into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame) to the Smashing Pumpkins (for the 1996 MTV Music Awards). Carol Burnett, Chicago, John Denver, Rodney Gilfry, Jonathan Pryce, Jane Eaglen, Jennifer Larmore, Patrick Stewart, Tito Puente, Charlotte Church, and Trisha Yearwood are among the multitude of artists who have performed with Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Mauceri's first recordings with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra reached the "Top Ten" in Billboard's crossover chart, and one received Germany's highest award, the Deutsche Schallplatten Prize. To date, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra has made four successful tours to Japan and one to Brazil. Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra have presented an astonishing number of premieres, and under Mauceri's tenure, opera and ballet returned to the Bowl's stage. In addition to his Hollywood Bowl position, Mauceri has served as music director for the Pittsburgh Opera since June 2000. The only American ever to have held the post of music director of an opera house in Great Britain and Italy, he served as music director of the Scottish Opera, and recently completed his three-year tenure as music director (direttore stabile) of the Teatro Reggio in Turino.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

Friday, September 14, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 15, 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, September 16, 7:30 p.m.

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood

"FIREWORKS FINALE - THE FIRST TEN YEARS!" (WITH FIREWORKS)

JOHN MAUCERI, Principal Conductor

Billy Gilman, special guest

Marni Nixon, special guest

Nell Carter, special guest

Rodgers: Oklahoma! Overture

Presenting Billy Gilman

     Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

     One Voice

     Orange Colored Sky

     Cryin’

Presenting Marni Nixon

     Hello Young Lovers from The King and I

     Somewhere/Tonight from West Side Story

     Galathea (Schoenberg cabaret song, piano only)

     Loverly/I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady

Schoenberg: Fanfare for a Bowl Concert

Korngold: Fanfare from King’s Row

Rozsa: The Music of Ben-Hur

     Overture

     Parade of the Chariots

     Love Theme

     Miracle and Finale

Presenting Nell Carter

     Ellington Medley

     Bali Ha’i/Happy Talk from South Pacific

     Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd

     Heat Wave from As Thousands Cheer

arr. Mishkin: Hooray for Hollywood (with fireworks)

Friday's and Saturday's Concerts are Lexus Passionate Performances

Friday's Concert Is Generously Sponsored by Pepsi

Sunday's Concert Is Generously Sponsored by Kendall-Jackson Wines & Vineyard

Media Sponsors: KLON 88.1 FM (September 14), Daily News and 94.7 The WAVE (September 15), KCSN 88.5 FM and KFWB News 98 (September 16)

Tickets ($3-85) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations) or online at www.hollywoodbowl.com. Groups of 10 or more may receive a 20% discount on single ticket prices; call 323/850-2050 for details. For general information or to request a brochure, please call 323/850-2000.