PNC Pops Series continues with Frank & The Great Ladies of Song conducted by Enrico Lopez-Yañez, February 10-12

Program features popular hit songs including "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," "Love Is Here to Stay," "Come Fly With Me," and "My Way"

Tickets on sale now at dso.org

Detroit, (January 18, 2023) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will continue the PNC Pops Series at Orchestra Hall with Frank & The Great Ladies of Song on February 10-12. Broadway brass meets old-school class in a fresh take on songbook classics with award-winning vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Tony DeSare. Enrico Lopez-Yañez will lead the DSO in a panoply of hits, including “This Could Be the Start of Something Big,” “Love Is Here to Stay,” “Come Fly With Me,” “Hallelujah I Love Her So,” “Night and Day,” “My Way,” “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” and “New York, New York.”

Frank & The Great Ladies of Song will take place Friday, February 10 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday, February 11 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, February 12 at 3 p.m. at Orchestra Hall.

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.

Tickets for these performances start at $19 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.

The title sponsor of the DSO’s PNC Pops Series is PNC Bank.

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FRANK & THE GREAT LADIES OF SONG
PNC Pops Series
Friday, February 10 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Saturday, February 11 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 12 at 3 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor
Tony DeSare, vocalist
Capathia Jenkins, vocalist
Broadway brass meets old-school class in a fresh take on songbook classics with award-winning vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Tony DeSare. Enrico Lopez-Yañez leads the DSO in a panoply of hits, including “This Could Be the Start of Something Big,” “Love Is Here to Stay,” “Come Fly With Me,” “Hallelujah I Love Her So,” “Night and Day,” “My Way,” “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” “New York, New York” and more.

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About Enrico Lopez-Yañez
Enrico Lopez-Yañez is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony where he leads the Symphony’s pops series and family series. Lopez-Yañez is quickly establishing himself as one of the nation’s leading conductors of popular music and becoming known for his unique style of audience engagement. Also an active composer/arranger, Lopez-Yañez has been commissioned to write for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Omaha Symphony, and has had his works performed by orchestras including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Ft. Worth Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and Utah Symphony, among others.

Since working with the Nashville Symphony, Lopez-Yañez has conducted concerts with a broad spectrum of artists including Nas, Patti LaBelle, Itzhak Perlman, Stewart Copeland, Kenny Loggins, Toby Keith, Trisha Yearwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Leslie Odom Jr., Megan Hilty, Tituss Burgess, Hanson, Kenny G, and more. Lopez-Yañez also conducts the annual Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th fireworks show, which was first televised on CMT in 2019, reaching millions of viewers across the nation.

In the upcoming season, Lopez-Yañez will collaborate with artists including Aida Cuevas, The Beach Boys, Cody Fry, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Vanesa Williams, Ledisi, and Pink Martini. Lopez-Yañez will appear with the Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Seattle Symphony, as well as make return appearances with the Dallas Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Pacific Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Utah Symphony. Previously, Lopez-Yañez has appeared with orchestras throughout North America including the Aguascalientes Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Florida Orchestra, National Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and Sarasota Orchestra, among others.

As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, Lopez-Yañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. Symphonica manages a wide breadth of pops and family/education productions that “breathe new, exuberant life into classical programming for kids and families” (Nashville Parent Magazine). Symphonica’s productions have been described as “incredibly special – and something that needs to become the new norm” (Lima Symphony). Symphonica Productions is also a sheet music publishing house representing a diverse offering of genres and composers. Their roster of composers includes Grammy Award-nominated composer Clarice Assad, Andres Soto, Charles Cozens, Vinicio Meza, and more.

As a producer, composer, and arranger, Lopez-Yañez’s work can be heard on numerous albums including the UNESCO benefit album, Action Moves People United; and children’s music albums including The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard, which was awarded top prizes in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Hollywood Music and Media Awards, and Family Choice Awards; and Kokowanda Bay, winner of a Global Media Award as well as a Parents’ Choice Award, with Lopez-Yañez being lauded for his “catchy arrangements” (Parents’ Choice Foundation).

About Tony DeSare
Tony DeSare performs with infectious joy, wry playfulness, and robust musicality. Named a Rising Star Male Vocalist in DownBeat magazine, DeSare has lived up to this distinction by winning critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout North America and abroad. From jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to Las Vegas, headlining with Don Rickles and major symphony orchestras, DeSare has brought his fresh take on old school class around the globe. DeSare has four top ten Billboard jazz albums under his belt and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Today Show, and his music has been posted by social media celebrity juggernaut George Takei. DeSare has also collaborated with YouTube icons Postmodern Jukebox. DeSare's Lush Life recording, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart and he released Song Diaries Vol. 2 in early 2022, now streaming on all platforms.  

Notwithstanding his critically acclaimed turns as a singer/pianist, DeSare is also an accomplished award-winning composer. He not only won first place in the USA Songwriting Contest, but has also written the theme song for the motion picture, My Date With Drew, several broadcast commercials, and has composed the full soundtracks for the Hallmark Channel's Love Always, Santa, Lifetime's Nanny Nightmare, and Lifetime's new A Welcome Home Christmas. His sound is romantic, swinging, and sensual, but what sets DeSare apart is his ability to write original material that sounds fresh and contemporary yet pays homage to the Great American Songbook. His compositions include a wide-range of romantic, funny, and soulful sounds that can be found on his top-selling recordings.

DeSare’s forthcoming appearances include the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and The Florida Orchestra.

DeSare releases new recordings, videos of standards and new originals regularly on his YouTube channel, iTunes, and Spotify. Follow DeSare on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on YouTube to stay connected.

Tony DeSare is a Yamaha Artist.

About Capathia Jenkins
Capathia Jenkins can definitely act, but all those who know her also know that this diva can blow and blow and blow you right off this planet. This woman who grappling with two dueling passions each with a strong grip: acting and music, yet she refuses to pick one because they both represent her soul. Jenkins approaches a song the same way she approaches a script, like an artist. She looks for the nuances, the secret hidden within the notes or text. She seeks the melody, harmony, and rhythm. She asks herself: "what am I trying to say? What do I want my audience to experience with me?" She wants to take her audience on a journey.

This Brooklyn-born and raised actress most recently starred as ‘Medda’ in the hit Disney production of Newsies The Musical on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in The Civil War, where she created the role of Harriet Jackson. She then starred in the Off-Broadway 2000 revival of Godspell, where she wowed audiences with her stirring rendition of ‘Turn Back, O Man’ which can still be heard on the original cast recording. She returned to Broadway in The Look of Love and was critically acclaimed for her performances of the Bacharach/David hits. Jenkins then created the roles of ‘The Washing Machine’ in Caroline, Or Change and ‘Frieda May’ in Martin Short's Fame Becomes Me where she sang ‘Stop the Show’ and brought the house down every night.

In 2007 she went back to Off-Broadway and starred in (mis) Understanding Mammy-The Hattie McDaniel Story for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. She was also seen in Nora Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore.

An active concert artist, Jenkins has appeared with orchestras around the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch), National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She was a soloist with the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. In 2011 Jenkins had the great honor of performing in the ‘Broadway Ambassadors to Cuba’ concert as part of the Festival De Teatro De La Habana. Jenkins was a guest soloist with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and with the Cincinnati Pope.

Her television credits include 30 Rock, the Practice, Law & Order SVU, the Sopranos, Law & Order. She can be seen in the 2012 film Musical Chairs directed by Susan Seidelman. She can be heard on the following film soundtracks: Nine, Chicago, and Legally Blonde 2.

About the DSO
The most accessible orchestra on the planet, 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.