Recording on Orchestra’s in-house label SFS Media nominated for
Best Musical Theater Album

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 5, 2014) – Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s live concert recording of Leonard Bernstein’s complete score for the musical West Side Story is nominated for a Grammy® Award yesterday in the category of Best Musical Theater Album.

The album features a stellar Broadway cast including Cheyenne Jackson and Alexandra Silber, and members of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The performances were recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall in late June and early July 2013 after Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony became the first orchestra to receive permission from all four West Side Story rights-holders to perform and record the musical score in its entirety in a concert setting.

Of the recording, Michael Tilson Thomas said, “This is a new and rare opportunity to hear Bernstein’s complete score sung by a sensational young cast and a knock-your-socks-off orchestra. We show the Broadway roots of the piece and how its universal qualities translate into the way we think about it today.” The 57th annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 8, 2015, and broadcast on CBS at 8 pm ET/PT.

All SFS Media recordings are available from the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and online at sfsymphony.org/store, digitally from itunes.com/sfsymphony, and from all major retailers and other digital outlets worldwide. SFS Media recordings are distributed by harmonia mundi in the U.S. and Canada, through Avie Records internationally, and by The Orchard to digital retailers.

For more information about SFS Media, visit the online press kit at sfsymphony.org/press.

For more information about this and other Grammy nominations, visit www.grammy.com.

Title: West Side Story

Composer: Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Based on a conception of Jerome Robbins
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Entire Original Production Directed and Choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein with Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal

Artists: Cheyenne Jackson Tony
Alexandra Silber Maria
Jessica Vosk Anita
Kevin Vortman Riff
Juliana Hansen Rosalia
Cassie Simone Francisca
Louise Cornillez Consuelo
Justin Keyes Action
Zach Ford Diesel
Chris Meissner Baby John
Louis Pardo A-rab
David Michael Laffey Big Deal
Kelly Markgraf Bernardo
Julia Bullock A Girl

San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director
San Francisco Symphony Chorus Jets, Sharks, Girls
Ragnar Bohlin director

Recorded: Recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall June 27-30 and July 2, 2013

File Under: Soundtracks, Classical

Label: SFS Media

Catalogue Number: SFS 0059

Release Date: June 10, 2014

Distribution: harmonia mundi (North America)
Avie (International)
The Orchard (Digital)
Online: sfsymphony.org/store

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

The San Francisco Symphony, widely considered to be among the most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions in the US, celebrated its Centennial season in 2011-12. Led by Michael Tilson Thomas, who leads his 20th season as Music Director in 2014-15, the SFS presents more than 220 concerts annually, and reaches an audience of nearly 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall, through its multifaceted education and community programs, and a global audience through its media initiatives and on national and international tours.

ABOUT SFS MEDIA

SFS Media is the San Francisco Symphony’s in-house label, launched in 2001. SFS Media records and releases audio and visual material reflecting the Orchestra and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas’s commitment to showcasing music by maverick composers as well as core classical masterworks. The recordings reflect the broad range of programming that has been a hallmark of the MTT/SFS partnership. Recorded live in concert and engineered at Davies Symphony Hall, the audio recordings are released on hybrid SACD and in high-resolution digital formats. SFS Media has garnered eight Grammy awards. SFS Media also produces and releases documentary and live performance videos, including the SFS’s national public television series and multimedia project Keeping Score, which included three seasons of television episodes, eight documentaries, and eight concert films designed to make classical music more accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds, available on DVD and Blu-ray. Other videos of the San Francisco Symphony available from SFS Media include A Celebration of Leonard Bernstein: Opening Night at Carnegie Hall 2008 and San Francisco Symphony at 100, a documentary about the Symphony’s history, which won a Northern California Emmy Award for “Historical/Cultural Program or Special” in 2012.