WARNER BROS. presents BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II with the NJSO

Conducted by George Daugherty

Created by George Daugherty & David Ka Lik Wong

Sat, June 3, at NJPAC in Newark

Sun, June 4, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick

NEWARK, NJ (May 1, 2017)—WARNER BROS. presents BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II—a spectacular fusion of classical music and classic animation that celebrates the world’s most famous and beloved cartoons and their equally famous music—with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, June 3–4 in Newark and New Brunswick. Conducted by Emmy Award™-winner George Daugherty, and created and produced by Daugherty and Emmy Award™-winning producer David Ka Lik Wong, the production is a celebration of the world’s favorite Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters on-screen with live full symphony orchestra accompaniment.

Performances take place on Saturday, June 3, at 8 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and Sunday, June 4, at 3 pm at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick. State Theatre New Jersey co-presents the June 4 performance.

This production is the second critically acclaimed sequel to Bugs Bunny on Broadway, the record-setting orchestra-and-film concert that pioneered a new genre of symphony orchestra entertainment when it debuted on Broadway in 1990. In 2010, this concert franchise—which has played to more than 2.5 million people worldwide—received standing ovations and rave reviews when a new version—Bugs Bunny at the Symphony—received its double world premiere at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony.

And now comes yet another new version that will delight audiences everywhere. This latest incantation celebrates this show’s 27-year-legacy of Looney Tunes and orchestral music together in concert. Retaining the most indelible moments from the original production, these performances include Chuck Jones’ inspired What’s Opera, Doc? and The Rabbit of Seville, while adding in other Warner Bros. classics like Friz Freleng’s Rhapsody Rabbit, Chuck Jones’ Long-Haired Hare and the virtuoso orchestral roller coaster ride of the Road Runner epic Zoom and Bored. Bugs Bunny is joined on-screen by his immensely popular cohorts, including Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, and many others. New to the concert are special guest appearances by Tom and Jerry In The Hollywood Bowl, three of the funniest Daffy Duck epics ever made—Show Biz Bugs, Long-Haired Hare and Robin Hood Daffy—and a trio of love songs by the world’s most scent-challenged crooner, Pepe Le Pew.

In addition, two spectacular new 3D-CGI Looney Tunes—Rabid Rider and Coyote Falls—round out the latest “updated concert” that has been selling out around the world since it premiered in July 2015 at the Hollywood Bowl (again with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.)

This concert has one of the widest demographics of any film-and-orchestra presentation in the market place, as it continues to pull not only all ages, but also new audiences into the classical music world’s most iconic concert halls with the leading orchestras of the world. In almost a quarter century of being on the road, the Bugs Bunny concert franchise, playing in repeat engagements with the New York Philharmonic (in a one-week sold-out, extended run at Lincoln Center), the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Minnesota, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Sydney, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Seattle, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa (NACO) and many dozens of others, has proven that sometimes, boisterous laughter in the concert hall IS a very good thing!

LOONEY TUNES and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

TOM AND JERRY and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Turner Entertainment Co.

(s17)

 

TICKETS

Tickets start at $20. Tickets are available from the NJSO online at www.njsymphony.org, by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or in person. The NJSO Patron Services office is located at 60 Park Place, 9th floor, in Newark; tickets are available by phone or in person Monday–Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, and concert Saturdays, 11 am to 5 pm.

Tickets for the June 4 performance are also available at the State Theatre New Jersey ticket office online at www.StateTheatreNJ.org, by phone at 732.246.SHOW (7469) or in person. The State Theatre New Jersey ticket office is located at 15 Livingston Ave in New Brunswick. Hours are Monday–Friday, 10 am to 6 pm; Saturday, 1 to 5 pm, and at least three hours prior to curtain on performance dates unless otherwise specified.

Additional information is available at www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/warner-bros-presents-bugs-bunny-at-the-symphony.

The June 3 performance is generously sponsored by the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. The June 4 performance is presented in collaboration with State Theatre New Jersey.

 

GEORGE DAUGHERTY

Conductor George Daugherty is one of the classical music world’s most diverse artists. In addition to his 40-year conducting career which has included appearances with the world’s leading orchestras, ballet companies, opera houses, and concert artists, Daugherty is also an Emmy Award-winning / five-time Emmy nominated creator whose professional profile includes major credits as a director, writer, and producer for television, film, innovative and unique concerts, and the live theater.

Since 1993, he has conducted over 20 performances at The Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (most recently with a concert pair in 2015), and an equal number with The National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap (most recently, in 2013 with a pair). He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in May, 2015, in four sold-out performances, and his current and recent conducting schedule includes multiple performances with San Francisco Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Utah Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra at both Severance Hall and the Blossom Festival, The Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as appearances with dozens of other orchestras in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. He has been a frequent guest conductor at the Sydney Opera House since 1996, and in 2002, 2005, 2010, and 2016, he returned to guest conduct he Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, including recording a new CD with the orchestra. In this and recent seasons, he also made debuts and return appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, West Australia Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and multiple engagements with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at both the National Concert Hall and the new Grand Canal Theatre, both in Dublin, Ireland. He has been a frequent guest conductor at the Bellas Artes Opera House in Mexico City, where he has conducted the Orquesta del Teatro de Bellas Artes in ballet and opera productions.

In 2016 Daugherty was appointed Music Director of the famed and iconic Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, with whom he made his debut conducting at The Kennedy Center Opera House in March 2017. From 2012 to 2015, he was Music Director of Ballet San Jose, where he conducted nearly 50 performances per season for the company, with Symphony Silicon Valley in the orchestra pit. This past season, he also conducted a major international gala for the company starring principal dancers from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, and other major companies. In summer 2013, he made his debut conducting The Russian National Orchestra at the internationally acclaimed Napa Valley Festival del Sol, presiding over the reconstruction of a long-lost Fokine ballet with music by Rachmaninoff, plus an international ballet gala.

He has also been a frequent conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with whom he first made his debut in Royal Festival Hall, and most recently conducted a 15-city U.S. and Canadian concert tour with the orchestra and guest artists Dame Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church, dancers of the Royal Ballet, and the Westminster Choir and Bell Ringers.

Daugherty has also conducted for scores of major American and international symphony orchestras, ballet companies, and opera houses, including numerous performances with the American Ballet Theatre, Munich State Opera and Ballet, Indianapolis Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Moscow Symphony, Kremlin Palace Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, Adelaide Symphony, the RCA Symphony Orchestra, Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, Mexico City’s Bellas Artes Opera House, Montreal Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, Austin Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, New Orleans Symphony, Venezuela Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Seoul Prime Philharmonic, and major Italian opera houses in Rome, Florence, Turin, and Reggio Emilia.

During the course of his career, he has also conducted for an extensive and eclectic list of international concert artists, including violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Cho-Liang Lin, Zachary De Pue, Rachel Lee, Kyung-wha Chung, Eugene Fodor; international opera artists Roberta Peters, Rosalind Elias, Julia Migenes, Jennifer Holloway, Rhys Meirion, Kristin Clayton, Bojan Knezevic, and Grace Bumbry; singers including Dame Julie Andrews, Etta James, Rosemary Clooney, Charlotte Church; and ensembles ranging from The Harvard Glee Club to The Westminster Choir to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

As a ballet conductor, Daugherty has conducted for the greatest ballet stars in the world over the past three and a half decades, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Gelsey Kirkland, Suzanne Farrell, and up to the stars of today, and has been on the conducting staffs of American Ballet Theatre, the Bavarian State Opera Ballet, La Scala Ballet, and Teatro Regio di Torino Ballet. Prior to his Music Directorship with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and Ballet San Jose, he has been music director of The Louisville Ballet, Ballet Chicago, Chicago City Ballet, and Eglevsky Ballet, and he has guest conducted for scores of international companies. He has conducted numerous versions of every full-length ballet, as well as scores of works by countless major choreographers ranging from George Balanchine to Sir Frederick Ashton.

As a director, writer, and producer of music-based television programs, Daugherty has created several major productions for the ABC Television Network project, including a primetime animation and live-action production of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, which he created, co-wrote, conducted, and directed, and for which he won a Prime Time Emmy Award as producer, as well as numerous other major awards (including an additional Emmy nomination as conductor and music director). He also collaborated with The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan on a television series adaptation of her celebrated children’s book Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat. The Emmy Award-winning 80-episode series debuted on PBS in the fall of 2001 as a daily-animated children’s television series. Daugherty executive produced, and also wrote, a large number of the animated tales.

Daugherty also received an Emmy nomination for Rhythm & Jam, his ABC television network specials which taught the basics of music to a teenage audience, which he created and produced with David Ka Lik Wong.

In 1998, Daugherty received the biannual Indiana Governor’s Arts Award from the state of his birth, in recognition for his artistic contributions not only in Indiana, but also throughout the rest of the country. In receiving the award, Daugherty joined an exclusive list of previous Hoosier honorees, including composers Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael, conductors Raymond Leppard and John Nelson, cellist Janos Starker, violinists Joshua Bell and Josef Gingold, architect Michael Graves, designer Bill Blass, and novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. In 2005, he was also named a Sagamore of The Wabash by the late Indiana Governor Frank O’Bannon, the highest award which can be bestowed upon a performing artist from the state governor.

In 1990, Daugherty created, directed, and conducted the hit Broadway musical Bugs Bunny On Broadway, a live-orchestra-and-film stage production which sold-out its extended run at New York’s Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, and has since played to critical acclaim and sold-out houses all over the world. The Bugs Bunny symphonic concert tradition continued when Daugherty and producing partner David Ka Lik Wong launched a new version, Bugs Bunny At The Symphony, in 2010, with double World Premieres at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The current version of the concert, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II, also created by Daugherty and Wong, premiered in 2013 and 2015 with world premieres at the Hollywood Bowl/Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, and National Symphony at Wolf Trap. Daugherty is also the executive producer, conductor, and creator of the touring concert Rodgers & Hammerstein on Stage and Screen, and Meredith Willson’s The Music Man at The Symphony.

Daugherty has lived in San Francisco for the past 17 years.

 

DAVID KA LIK WONG

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony Executive Producer David Ka Lik Wong was awarded with a coveted Emmy Award for his work as producer on Peter and the Wolf in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy in 1994 for his work as producer of Rhythm & Jam, the ABC series of Saturday morning music education specials for children.

He teamed with George Daugherty as principal producer for the Peter and the Wolf project, the animation and live-action production starring Kirstie Alley, Lloyd Bridges, Sleepless in Seattle’s Ross Malinger, and the new animated characters of legendary animation director Chuck Jones. He also produced the interactive CD-ROM version of the production for Time Warner Interactive.

He was also the senior Producer for the Warner Bros. documentary film The Magical World of Chuck Jones, directed by George Daugherty and starring interviews by Steven Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, George Lucas, and Ron Howard, among many others.

He has been Producer for the Warner Bros. touring concert production Bugs Bunny on Broadway since 1991, and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony since 2010, as they have toured the world, and he co-produced the original audio CD album for Warner Bros. Records. Mr. Wong has also produced innovative symphony orchestra concerts for some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, the National Symphony, The Hong Kong Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Sydney Opera House, the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Wales Millennium Centre, Sinfonia Britannia, and many others. Most recently, he produced critically acclaimed Christmas concerts for Canada’s National Arts Centre, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He is also Executive Producer and the co-creator of the touring concert Rodgers & Hammerstein on Stage and Screen, and Meredith Willson’s The Music Man at The Symphony.

Mr. Wong has teamed with George Daugherty, Amy Tan, and the legendary Sesame Workshop to produce and create the new Emmy Award winning PBS / Sesame Workshop children’s television series Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, based on the book by Ms. Tan, which premiered on PBS in the fall of 2001, and has since been one of the most highly rated children’s television series on all broadcast networks. Mr. Wong also wrote a number of episodes for the series and story-edited all 80 segments.

Mr. Wong is also the producer of the new WaterTower Music CD release of Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, recorded at the Sydney Opera House with The Sydney Symphony. In addition to his Emmy Awards and nominations, he has won numerous other awards during his career, including the Grand Award of both the Houston and Chicago International Film Festivals, a Silver Award of the Chicago Film Festival, two Parents’ Choice Awards, and the Kids First Award.

Mr. Wong was born in Hong Kong, and moved to San Francisco with his family at the age of 12. He still calls San Francisco home.

 

NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Named “a vital, artistically significant musical organization” by The Wall Street Journal, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra embodies that vitality through its statewide presence and critically acclaimed performances, education partnerships and unparalleled access to music and the Orchestra’s superb musicians.

The NJSO welcomes new Music Director Xian Zhang in the 2016–17 season. The Orchestra presents classical, pops and family programs, as well as outdoor summer concerts and special events. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick, Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and bergenPAC in Englewood. Partnerships with New Jersey arts organizations, universities and civic organizations remain a key element of the Orchestra’s statewide identity.

In addition to its lauded artistic programming, the NJSO presents a suite of education and community engagement programs that promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music. Programs include school-time Concerts for Young People performances, NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles and El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project). NJSO musicians annually perform original chamber music programs at nearly 200 community events in a variety of settings through the NJSO’s REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) program. The Orchestra’s ECE programs annually serve more than 60,000 New Jerseyans in nearly 21 counties.

For more information about the NJSO, visit www.njsymphony.org or email information@njsymphony.org. Tickets are available for purchase by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or on the Orchestra’s website.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s programs are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, along with many other foundations, corporations and individual donors.

 

STATE THEATRE NEW JERSEY

The State Theatre New Jersey is a premier nonprofit venue for the performing arts and entertainment. The theater exists to enrich people’s lives, contribute to a vital urban environment and build future audiences by presenting the finest performing artists and entertainers and fostering lifetime appreciation for the performing arts through education. The State Theatre New Jersey’s programs are made possible in part by funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and contributions from numerous corporations, foundations and individuals.

 

PRESS CONTACT

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Press Representative:

Victoria McCabe, NJSO Senior Manager of Public Relations & Communications | 973.735.1715 | vmccabe@njsymphony.org

 

State Theatre New Jersey Press Representative:

Kelly Blithe, State Theatre New Jersey Director of Communications | 732.247.7200, ext. 542 | kblithe@statetheatrenj.org

###