FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 22, 2014
Contact: Samantha Black
Phone: 757.213.1420
[email protected]
“I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” The VSO
POPS Pays Tribute to Motown
Benjamin Rous Conducts Vocal Group Spectrum in POPS Season
Opener
HAMPTON ROADS, VA
(September 22, 2014) –
There’s something about the
music of Motown. The iconic
melodies and tight-knit vocal
harmonies of groups like The
Temptations, The Four Tops,
Smokey Robinson and the
Miracles, and The
Commodores are woven into
our collective history to
create a tapestry of more
than fifty years of memories.
On October 1 and 2, the
Virginia Symphony POPS will
pay tribute to the music of
Motown, when vocal group
Spectrum takes the stage to
open the 2014-2015 POPS series.
With credits ranging from headlining in Las Vegas and aboard Royal Caribbean, Princess and Norwegian
Cruise Line ships, to touring Europe, to starring in a Doo-Wop to Soul Review at the Hollywood
Palladium, as well as performing with more than 40 symphony orchestras throughout North America,
Spectrum has developed the versatility to credibly cover the music of groups from the Platters to the
Temptations to Boyz 2 Men. Members of the group, collectively and individually have starred in no less
than six major production shows on the Las Vegas Strip and internationally; appeared on numerous
television shows including the Today Show, in motion pictures, in equity theater, and at professional
sporting events. Additionally, they have performed with or opened for artists as varied as Tony Bennett,
the Temptations, Blue Magic, Little Richard, the late Marty Robbins, the Platters, Frankie Lymon’s
Teenagers, Doc Severenson and Fat Larry’s Band, to name a few.
The group boasts four incredible singers, each with the voice of a solo artist, who combine their voices
and dexterity to create the angelic harmonies and deft choreography that have become trademarks of
Spectrum. The members include master recording artist Darryl Grant of Oakland, California, Chicagoborn musician and versatile entertainer Pierre Jovan, David Prescott the silky-smooth, soaring-voiced
first tenor from Rochester, New York and singer, actor and group founder Cushney Roberts, from East
Orange, New Jersey, who left the life of a Princeton-educated corporate engineer and cut his teeth in
the casino lounges enroute to becoming a well-respected Las Vegas showroom entertainer.
Benjamin Rous will conduct two performances with Spectrum that will have audiences singing along to
such hits as “Under the Boardwalk,” “My Girl,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Stand by Me,” “Dock of the
Bay,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” and much more.
Performances are Wednesday, October 1 at 8:00 PM, CNU’s Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport
News, and Saturday, October 2 at 8:00 PM, Chrysler Hall in Norfolk.
Prices range from $25 - $93. For tickets, call Symphony Patron Services, 757-892-6366 or visit
www.virginiasymphony.org
This concert is sponsored by Newport News Shipbuilding.
Under the leadership of GRAMMY-winning music director, JoAnn Falletta, the Virginia Symphony is
Southeastern Virginia’s pre-eminent professional symphony orchestra with a mission of inspiring,
educating and connecting audiences of all ages. Founded in 1920, it is ranked in the top ten percent of
professional orchestras nationwide and serves the entire Southeastern Virginia region with Classics,
Pops and Family concert series in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News and Williamsburg as well as
performances in outlying Virginia and North Carolina communities, reaching more than 160,000 concertgoers every year. Additionally, the orchestra annually reaches 45,000 children, students and lifelong
learners with its education and community programs. The Virginia Symphony has performed at
Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and is the cornerstone of the Performing Arts in Southeastern
Virginia.
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