A tribute to the ultimate “Queen of Soul,” this program features symphony-favorite Capathia Jenkins and three-time Grammy Award nominee Ryan Shaw performing iconic hits like Respect, Think, A Natural Woman, Chain of Fools, Amazing Grace, and many others. Come ready to sing and dance at this soul-filled concert.
PROGRAM
VARIOUS: Aretha Overture
DON COVEY: Chain of Fools
BURT BACHARACH/HAL DAVID: I Say a Little Prayer
DeSYLVA/BROWN/HENDERSON: Birth of Blues
STEVIE WONDER: Sir Duke
SAGER/HAMLISCH: Nobody Does It Better
TRADITIONAL: What a Friend We Have in Jesus/Climbing Higher Mountains
JIMMY WEBB: MacArthur Park
KATHERINE BATES/SAM WARD: America the Beautiful
OTIS REDDING: Respect
INTERMISSION
VARIOUS: Salute to Ray Charles
JAMES BROWN: I Got You (I Feel Good)
IRVING GORDON: Unforgettable
GOFFIN/KING/WEXLER: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
SAM COOKE: A Change is Gonna Come
STEVIE WONDER: Isn’t She Lovely
HARRY WARREN: At Last
WOODS/CAMPBELL/CONNELLY: Try a Little Tenderness
TRADITIONAL: Amazing Grace
FEATURED ARTISTS
The Brooklyn-born and raised singer/actor, Capathia Jenkins, premiered her new show, She’s Got Soul, with the Houston Symphony in October 2022, with upcoming performances including Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Utah Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Asheville ...
The Brooklyn-born and raised singer/actor, Capathia Jenkins, premiered her new show, She’s Got Soul, with the Houston Symphony in October 2022, with upcoming performances including Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Utah Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, among others.
Ms. Jenkins starred as ‘Medda’ in the hit Disney production of Newsies 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. Ms. Jenkins then created the roles of ‘The Washing Machine’ in Caroline, Or Change and ‘Frieda May’ in Martin Short-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, Ms. Jenkins has appeared with numerous orchestras around the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch), National Symphony, Cincinnati Pops (with John Morris Russell), Philly Pops, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, San Diego Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and many others. She was also a soloist with the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic multiple times. Capathia had the great honor of performing in the ‘Broadway Ambassadors to Cuba’ concert as part of the Festival De Teatro De La Habana. She will be returning to Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops for Get Happy: That Nelson Riddle Sound and also sang in a Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch at the Library of Congress.
Her Television credits include 30 Rock, the Practice, Law & Order SVU, the Sopranos, Law & Order, as well as on her critically acclaimed CD Phenomenal Woman with Louis Rosen and her most recent single, ‘I am Strong’. She can be seen in the film ‘Musical Chairs’ directed by Susan Seidelman. Ms. Jenkins was also seen in The Wiz in a live performance on NBC. She can be heard on the following film soundtracks: Nine, Chicago, Legally Blonde 2.
Throwback soul singer Ryan Shaw was born December 26, 1980, in Decatur, Georgia, to a deeply religious family. He began singing in the Pentecostal church when he was only three years old, and took his first solo when he was five. Music, specifically, religious music, continued to be an all-important part ...
Throwback soul singer Ryan Shaw was born December 26, 1980, in Decatur, Georgia, to a deeply religious family. He began singing in the Pentecostal church when he was only three years old, and took his first solo when he was five. Music, specifically, religious music, continued to be an all-important part of his life, and while he was enrolled at Georgia State University he tried out, and made the cut, for a part in a gospel musical. In 1998 he dropped out of school and joined the cast of Tyler Perry’s I Know I’ve Been Changed, moving to New York to perform, and when the play’s run ended, he found work singing old Motown hits and dance songs from the 1950s and ’60s (many of which were unfamiliar to Shaw, who had listened to little secular music before leaving Georgia) and as a member of the band the Fabulous Soul Shakers, which he joined in 2004. The group’s guitarist, Johnny Gale, convinced his friend Jimmy Bralower to check the young singer out, and in 2006, after being impressed by what he heard, Bralower, a percussionist and producer, invited Shaw and Gale to his home to record a short demo. This got the attention of Columbia, and in 2007 the label issued This Is Ryan Shaw, a collection of covers from artists like Wilson Pickett, Bobby Womack, and Jackie Wilson, as well as some original songs. Following its release, he opened for Van Halen and found additional success with 2010’s It Gets Better. His third album, Real Love, appeared on Dynotone in 2012.
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Sean O’Loughlin (b.1972) is the Principal Pops Conductor of The Syracuse Orchestra and the newly appointed Principal Pops Conductor of the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, B.C. Canada. He is a fresh voice and a rising name in the music world. His music is characterized by vibrant rhythms, ...
Sean O’Loughlin (b.1972) is the Principal Pops Conductor of The Syracuse Orchestra and the newly appointed Principal Pops Conductor of the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, B.C. Canada. He is a fresh voice and a rising name in the music world. His music is characterized by vibrant rhythms, passionate melodies, and colorful scoring. Commissions from the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra highlight and showcase his diverse musical abilities. As a conductor, he has led performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Victoria Symphony and the Seattle Symphony amongst others. He was the assistant conductor and arranger for a production of Sgt. Pepper Live in Las Vegas featuring the band Cheap Trick. He has served as conductor for national and world-wide tours with Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan and the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration. He has also appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America with Josh Groban and NBC’s “A Very Pentatonix Christmas.”
Recent collaborations include such artists as Sarah McLachlan, Adele, Josh Groban, Pentatonix, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Diana Ross, Journey, Melissa Etheridge, Weird Al Yankovic, Blue Man Group, Janelle Monáe, Audra McDonald, Hall and Oates, Gloria Estefan, the Indigo Girls, Diana Krall, Itzhak Perlman, Natalie Merchant, Chris Isaak, Pink Martini, Brandi Carlile, The Decemberists, Martina McBride, Josh Ritter, Gloria Gaynor and others. The Los Angeles Times calls his orchestrations “…magnificent and colorful” while adding “…even more dimension…” to the compositions. Daily Variety heralds Sean’s writing as “most impressive …” with a “wide range of coloring in the orchestra…” that “…adds heft and rolling energy.
Through his growing number of commissioned and published works, Sean is excited to continue contributing to the rich history of orchestral and wind band literature. His music is published by Excelcia Music, Hal Leonard and Carl Fischer. He is a frequent guest conductor with professional orchestras around the country and abroad. An annual ASCAP Special Awards winner, Sean was a composition fellow at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles, and holds composition degrees from New England Conservatory and Syracuse University.