Stowe Welcomes Alondra de la Parra, Music Director, and Philharmonic Orchestra Of The Americas To Summer Home

International Award-Winning Classical Guitarist

Pablo Sˆ°inz Villegas Headlines

Music Festival of the Americas at Stowe

Stowe, VT (March 3, 2010) --- The Music Festival of the Americas at Stowe returns in August with a schedule of outstanding events and dynamic guests from the world of opera and classical music. Twenty-nine year old conductor Alondra de la Parra returns to direct the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in their summer home and will be joined by award-winning Spanish classical guitarist Pablo Sˆ°inz Villegas, opera stars from Placido Domingo’Äôs Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists’Äô Program and Ben Capps, the orchestra’Äôs principal cellist.

Ms. de la Parra, founder of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, and her New York City-based orchestra recently finished their second international tour, and over the past year have shared stages with Patti Labelle, Jose Feliciano, Carlos Santana, Gloria Estefan, John Legend and actor Geoffrey Rush. Ms. de la Parra and the POA recently completed a Sony Classical 2-CD recording celebrating Mexico’Äôs Bicentennial and featuring master works by Mexican composers.

The Music Festival of the Americas will expand to four days, August 18-21, and performances take place at 8:00 pm at Symphony Court, Topnotch Resort & Spa in Stowe, Vermont. Tickets are available by calling 802.760.6797 or online.

On Wednesday, August 18, Ms. de la Parra will conduct the POA Chamber Orchestra and delight the audience with ’ÄúConducting 101.’Äù

Thursday, August 19th, she will conduct the full orchestra and be joined by opera stars from Placido Domingo’Äôs Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. Jennifer Lynn Waters, who moved audiences last year with exceptional arias and duets from Puccini, Verdi and Bizet, will be joined this summer by Ukrainian baritone Oleksandr Pushniak.

 

On Friday, August 20th, the orchestra will accompany Spanish classical guitarist Pablo Sˆ°inz Villegas as he performs Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’Äôs Concierto del Sur. Mr. Sˆ°inz Villegas is renowned as ’ÄúThe Soul of the Spanish Guitar’Äù and the recipient of more than thirty international awards, including the Andrˆ©s Segovia Award. Philharmonic Orchestra of the America’Äôs own principal cellist, Ben Capps, will be featured soloist for Schumann’Äôs Cello Concerto. The evening will end with Dvorak’Äôs Symphony No. 8.

 The grand finale on Saturday, August 21st heats up the rhythms as Anything Goes! ’Äì a night of diverse musical styles, dancing and festivities. Rum and tequila, caipirinhas and mojitos! Finally, a chance to kick off your shoes and samba, cha-cha, salsa, merengue - you name it. The orchestra members’Äîall under the age of 35, and from twenty different countries’Äîabandon their classical chops and go to the ’Äúdark side’Äù of Latin, rock, Rhythm & Blues’Äîanything goes! With special guest appearance by Latin recording star Mane de la Parra. As part of its mission to cultivate a life-long love of music, the Music Festival of the Americas at Stowe will donate twenty-five percent of the admission revenue from Saturday’Äôs ’ÄúAnything Goes!’Äù to the Stowe schools’Äô music programs.

The Music Festival of the Americas at Stowe is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation, presenting premier international virtuosos and rising young talent from both the classical and world-music genres, and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of the Americas Stowe is the summer home of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, which, under the baton of music director and orchestra founder Alondra de la Parra, brings unsurpassed music to the Green Mountains of Vermont.