The Southwest Florida Symphony celebrates
Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday with a two night musical tribute –
My Sinatra: The Sinatra Story
Fort Myers, FL— The Southwest Florida Symphony, Lee County’s professional orchestra and one of the oldest symphony orchestras on Florida’s gulf coast, presents its final Pops Concert of its 55th season, My Sinatra: The Sinatra Story on Friday, March 11th and Saturday, March 12th, 2016. For this concert, the Southwest Florida Symphony features star of the PBS Special, My Sinatra, Cary Hoffman. Cary Hoffman turns his celebrated PBS Special into a biographical, often hilarious, and poignant one-man musical play about his love and idolization for this hero Frank Sinatra and the perils of wanting to become somebody else. Hoffman will perform iconic Sinatra tunes like That’s Life, Fly Me To the Moon and of course, New York, New York.
Hoffman captivates the audience with his intimate journey of what it was like growing up fatherless with three musician uncles, who played on some of Sinatra’s greatest recordings, turning Sinatra into a fantasy father. Hoffman authentically sings Sinatra “Dead On!” (The New York Times), as he weaves in over 20 classic Sinatra songs, creating a musical score about his lifelong obsession. Tickets range from $27 to $87 and may be purchased at the Southwest Florida Symphony Box Office by calling 239-418-1500 or visiting in person, online at WWW.SWFLSO.ORG and at all performance venues.
Cary Hoffman Bio
CARY HOFFMAN (Playwright/Actor) is finally achieving his dream with his autobiographical one-man memoir musical, My Sinatra, about his Sinatra obsession, opening Off-Broadway this spring. Ironically, the story is eerily similar to Ray Romano’s Men of a Certain Age, on TNT, of which Hoffman is an Executive Producer; the premise tracks the changing lifestyles and dreams of three 50+ men.
Hoffman has performed the music of Frank Sinatra for the past eight years in over 55 Performing Arts Centers around the World, including a performance for the President of Singapore. He is New York’s premiere Sinatra interpreter. His compelling blend of vocal performance and stories led to a National PBS television special, produced by Albert Tapper, which has aired in over 70 cities around the country and was viewed by more than 2 million people.
Before returning to the stage to sing the great songs of Frank Sinatra, Hoffman was a very successful songwriter/producer, co-writing a hit Off-Broadway musical What’s A Nice Country Like You, Doing in a State Like This with Ira Gasman, co-wrote two top 20 country hits and some of the country’s most well known jingles. As a personal manager, Hoffman discovered the R&B crooner Luther Vandross and the comedy actor Zach Galifianakis. He also manages A-list stand-up comedians such as Lynne Koplitz, co-star with Joan Rivers on We’s hit reality show Joan and Melissa: Mother Knows Best, and TV Writers such as Tom Hertz, creator of CBS’s Rules of Engagement and Mike Royce, creator and executive producer of TNT’s Men of a Certain Age. Hoffman, and his former wife Suzanne, opened Stand-UP NY Comedy Club – a landmark club on the Upper West Side – and ran it for the past 21 years.
Southwest Florida Symphony General Information
The Southwest Florida Symphony is the only professional orchestra in Lee County and the one of the oldest on Florida’s gulf coast. It enters its 55th season this year, having made its debut as a community orchestra on April 15, 1961. Conducted by Arlo Deibler, the Symphony began its life as a community orchestra and its original roster consisted of 24 musicians. It performed in community centers and schools throughout Lee and Collier Counties. It has since grown to become Lee County’s only professional symphony orchestra, filling Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall with symphonic music enthusiasts and a roster consisting of more than 65 world-class musicians. The Southwest Florida Symphony’s 55th year promises to be a season of continued enthusiasm as internationally acclaimed Maestro Nir Kabaretti leads the symphony into another season of blockbuster performances. Maestro Kabaretti is the fifth music director in the organization’s history. His presence and caliber of musicality garnered record setting attendance at many of the symphony’s 2014-15 Masterworks Concerts. The Southwest Florida Symphony’s mission is to celebrate the joy of music and to inspire audiences with a variety of quality concerts performed by professional musicians that are accessible to all.
This season features the Southwest Florida Symphony’s signature Masterworks Classical Concert Series, entitled A Symphonic Storybook (November 21, Carmina Burana; January 23, One Thousand and One Nights; February 13, Love Triangle; March 5, A Night at the Opera; and April 2 & 3, The Shakespeare Experience), a special Holiday Pops concert entitled The Holidays in Paradise on December 16 & 17 at Flagler College in St. Augustine, December 19 at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, December 20 at BIG ARTS on Sanibel and December 21 at The Village Church at Shell Point; its Pops Series (Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on January 8 & 9; A Night at the Oscars on February 5 & 6; and My Sinatra on April 2 & 3), a chamber series called Small Stage Symphonies℠, performed at BIG ARTS on Sanibel Island (January 13, February 3 and March 24), Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral (August 12, 2015, January 15 and March 22), The Village Church at Shell Point (August 13, 2015, January 14 and February 4), and at the Sidney & Berne Davis Arts Center (August 14, 2015 and March 23).
Maestro Nir Kabaretti bio
Nir Kabaretti spends his second season with the Southwest Florida Symphony this year while he continues to serve as the Santa Barbara Symphony’s Music Director in California. He enters his tenth season with Santa Barbara this year. He has been described as “a conductor with immense musicality and warm personality” by Maestro Zubin Mehta. Kabaretti has earned an impressive reputation across continents for his command of a vast symphonic and operatic repertoire.
Upon graduation from the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Kabaretti began working as coach and Chorus Master at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. He later advanced to positions as Assistant to the Music Director at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Personal Assistant to Maestro Zubin Mehta at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy.
Nir Kabaretti has worked with some of the world’s most sought-after musicians, such as Lang Lang, Placido Domingo, Itzhak Perlman, and Hélène Grimaud. His guest conducting appearances have included the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, Orquestre National du Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, La Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, Real Orquesta Sinfònica de Sevilla, La Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria and the Bochumer Symphoniker.
He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel in 2002, and later as its Music Director till 2008.
Kabaretti’s operatic experience includes productions at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Real in Madrid, The Israeli Opera, Opéra de Lausanne, Avenches Opera Festival in Switzerland, Tokyo New National Theatre and Opera Santa Barbara.
He conducted The Diary of Anne Frank, a guest production of the Vienna State Opera performed at both the Bregenz Festival and Expo 2000 in Hannover. In 2005, Kabaretti lead Teatro San Carlo di Napoli on its first tour to Japan, conducting Il Trovatore both in Kyoto and Tokyo.
During the 2004-05 season he made his debut at Teatro alla Scala di Milano. In 2007 he was invited again for the ballet production of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer night’s Dream (broadcasted by Italian television RAI, and released as a commercial DVD).
Maestro Kabaretti received the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Grant for Young Conductors. In 1993, he won the Forum Junger Künstler Conducting Competition in Vienna. In 1994 he was among the finalists in the International Competition for Conductors in Douai, France.
Southwest Florida Symphony Sponsors
The Southwest Florida Symphony’s 2015-16 sponsors include The Southwest Florida Symphony’s Board of Trustees, The Southwest Florida Symphony Society, The Southwest Florida Community Foundation, The City of Fort Myers, The State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Florida Council on Arts & Culture, The Southwest Florida Symphony Endowment Foundation, The L.A.T. Foundation, Uhler & Vertich Financial Planners, Enterprise Rent-a-car, IberiaBank, The Neil Goldberg Dream Foundation, Rev. Gary & Mrs. Christine LaCroix, Mr. Charles B. Munsch, Mr. Don Fjellin, Eric Diefenbach & J.K. Brown, Ernie Fogg & Margot Flinn,‘Tween Waters Inn, Bailey’s General Store, Sanibel Captiva Community Bank, Crowne Plaza, Mastello Ristorante, Advanced Pain Management and Spine Specialists, Alexander & Hoover, LCEC, The Cape Coral Community Foundation, The Friends of the Symphony on Sanibel, Mr. & Mrs. Steve and Charlotte Qua, Pamela Templeton and the Red Lipstick Foundation, Suncoast Schools Credit Union, The Foulds Foundation, Sheeley Architects, Madeleine Taeni and Mark Loren Designs.
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Event: Southwest Florida Symphony Pops – My Sinatra: The Sinatra Story
Dates: Friday, March 11th and Saturday, March 12th, 2016
Location: Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall
Time: 8:00PM
Tickets: from $27-$87
For tickets and more information, call the box office at 239-418-1500 or administrative office at 239-418-0996 or visit www.swflso.org
