Program will include Tina Turner’s hit songs including “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” “Disco Inferno,” “Proud Mary,” “Simply the Best,” and more
Tickets on sale at dso.org
Detroit, (June 8, 2023) – This summer, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present Simply The Best: The Music of Tina Turner at Orchestra Hall on July 8 featuring vocalists Tamika Lawrence, Shaleah Adkisson, Scott Coulter, and pianist John Boswell. Lawrence, Adkisson, and Boswell are returning to the DSO to join us for The Music of Tina Turner following a weekend of stunning performances in tribute to Aretha Franklin in Orchestra Hall this past May.
Tina Turner’s singular voice and decades-spanning career gave fans songs that became part of the soundtrack of their lives. Join the DSO for a celebration of Turner’s iconic musical legacy, featuring hits including “Proud Mary,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “Disco Inferno,” “Private Dancer,” and “Simply the Best.” This performance is given in honor of the late Tina Turner, who passed away on May 24, 2023.
Simply The Best: The Music of Tina Turner will take place on Saturday, July 8 at 8 p.m. at Orchestra Hall. Tickets for this performance start at $39 and can be purchased at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at 313.576.5111, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
2022-2023 SEASON DSO SAFETY POLICIES: The DSO no longer requires audiences to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend performances. Masks are optional although strongly recommended at DSO performances, particularly when Wayne County and surrounding communities are in the high or "red" category as defined by the CDC. The DSO asks audience members to do their part to create a safe environment for everyone and encourages those who are not feeling well to stay home.
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SIMPLY THE BEST: THE MUSIC OF TINA TURNER
Saturday, July 8 at 8 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Tamika Lawrence, vocals
Shaleah Adkisson, vocals
Scott Coulter, vocals
John Boswell, piano
All hail the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Tina Turner’s singular voice and decades-spanning career gave us songs that became part of the soundtrack of our lives. Join us for a celebration of Turner’s iconic musical legacy, featuring hits like “Proud Mary,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “Disco Inferno,” “Private Dancer,” and “Simply the Best.”
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About Tamika Lawrence
Hailing from the Mount Hope neighborhood of the Bronx, Tamika Lawrence began her musical career on Broadway almost 10 years ago (The Wiz Live! on NBC, Book of Mormon, Come From Away, and RENT). She then began to lend her alt-rock vocals to movie soundtracks and sang backgrounds for artists including Hugh Jackman and Idina Menzel. A cross between Jack White and Betty Davis, Lawrence began to write her own music and in 2014 released the album Ugly with her the band Tamika & The Slay to critical acclaim. In 2018, Lawrence won a Grammy Award for her work on the Dear Evan Hansen album and completed her debut solo EP Two Faced which was released in 2020. She is currently starring in the Broadway revival of Caroline, or Change with the Roundabout Theatre Company.
About Shaleah Adkisson
Shaleah Adkisson has performed on Broadway and on tour in Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical and off-Broadway in the revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent. Her many regional theater credits include Jubilee (Arena Stage), Clybourne Park, Avenue Q (Arkansas Repertory Theatre), The Hot Mikado, Beehive: The 60's Musical, Ain't Misbehavin’ (Broward Stage Door Theatre), Grease, Nunsense (Murry’s Dinner Playhouse), and Children of Eden (Arkansas Repertory Theatre). Adkisson regularly performs in New York City and on tour with Soul Picnic Productions (Back to the Garden and August 1969: A Tribute to the Women of Woodstock). Visit shaleahadkisson.com for more.
About Scott Coulter
Scott Coulter is one of New York’s most honored vocalists. For his work in cabaret, Coulter has received five MAC Awards (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs), five Bistro Awards, two Nightlife Awards for Outstanding Vocalist, and has performed at most of NYC’s top rooms including Birdland, 54 Below, The Oak Room at the Algonquin, and Feinstein’s at The Regency, where he spent a record-setting eight months performing the revue 11 O’Clock Numbers at 11 O’Clock, which he also co-created, directed, and musically arranged. His self-titled debut album won the 2003 MAC Award for Outstanding Recording and was chosen as the best recording of the year by TheatreMania and Cabaret Scenes magazine, which pronounced it “quite simply, the best these ears have ever heard.”
Since 1997, Coulter has performed around the country with award-winning songwriting duo Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich in their many revues. While singing with Goldrich and Heisler, he was discovered by Oscar and Grammy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, who then invited him to join the revue, Stephen Schwartz & Friends. That revue (starring Schwartz and Coulter along with Liz Callaway and Tony Award-winner Debbie Gravitte) has been performing all over the world since 1999. Schwartz has said, “One of the greatest things that can happen to a composer is to have his music interpreted by Scott Coulter.”
Coulter is the founder and owner of Spot-On Entertainment. He is a resident director of programming at 54 Below (Broadway’s Supper Club) in NYC and is a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
About John Boswell
Pianist John Boswell has served as musical director for Judy Collins, Andy Williams, Bob Newhart, Faith Prince, Scott Coulter, Maude Maggart, Carmen Cusack, Babbie Green, Jason Graae, and a host of other fine talents. Boswell played the role of “Moose” in the national tour of Crazy For You and has appeared on The Tonight Show, Today Show, CBS This Morning, Regis And Kathie Lee, General Hospital, and was the piano playing hands of Nancy McKeon on the sit-com The Facts of Life. Recent concerts with symphonies have included Jerry Herman: The Broadway Legacy Concert, Blockbuster Broadway!, Sheena Easton and Scott Coulter: The Spy Who Loved Me, and Music of The Knights. Boswell has been heard singing in the shows Three Men and A Baby, Grant, Cinema Toast, Broadway Today, Wiseguys, and the New York cult hit Cashino. Broadway/Off Broadway credits include Crazy For You, The Secret Garden, LIZA! Steppin' Out At Radio City Music Hall, Back To Bacharach, and David and The Kathy And Mo Show: Parallel Lives. His monthly concerts in 2017 at The Gardenia in Los Angeles have been crowd pleasers. Boswell has eight CDs of original piano music and a ninth on the way. While a student at UCLA, Boswell received the Frank Sinatra Award for popular instrumentalists.
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. As a community-supported orchestra, generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels drives the continued success and growth of the organization. In January 2020, Italian conductor Jader Bignamini was named the DSO’s next music director to commence with the 2020-2021 season. Celebrated conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik is the orchestra’s Principal Pops Conductor, while Oscar®-nominated trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair.
Making its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, the DSO offers a performance schedule that features PVS Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. One of the world’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, Orchestra Hall celebrated its centennial in 2019-2020. In addition, the DSO presents the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series in seven metro area venues, as well as a robust schedule of eclectic multi-genre performances in its mid-size venue The Cube, constructed and curated with support from Peter D. & Julie F. Cummings.
A dedication to broadcast innovation began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts, which also reaches tens of thousands of children with the Classroom Edition expansion. With growing attendance and unwavering philanthropic support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to embrace and inspire individuals, families, and communities through unsurpassed musical experiences.