8) Star-Spangled Pops
May 23, 24 & 25

At the final Pops concert of the season, Richard Kaufman conducts a Memorial Day weekend salute of songs of remembrance, rousing patriotic tunes and Sousa marches. The program also includes a 100th-anniversary salute to American composer Leroy Anderson, known for such hits as Blue Tango Waltz, The Typewriter, Bugler's Holiday and Syncopated Clock. Joining the orchestra is tenor and former New York City policeman Daniel Rodriguez and pianist Nelson Kole, who will perform Anderson's Piano Concerto.

Tenor Daniel Rodriguez is known by many as the voice of hope and healing for America following the 9/11 tragedy. This former New York City policeman sang at numerous memorial services for victims and their families, including the Prayer for America Service at Yankee Stadium, where Placido Domingo sang that day and then invited Rodriguez to study with him. An almost storybook succession of events and appearances from Oprah to David Letterman launched Daniel Rodriguez before the American public, both as a hero and a gifted singer. Invitations for various performances followed, which included the 2002 Winter Olympics, the Hollywood Bowl, the PBS Memorial Day concert in Washington, D.C., the Tournament of Roses Parade, the 2004 Republican National Convention and President Bush's Celebration of Freedom Inauguration concert. Rodriguez' last performance with TFO was on the Pops series on the 2005/06 season.

Nelson Kole is a composer-performer-pianist-arranger whose professional career began on the Las Vegas strip where he played keyboards for headliners such as Frank Sinatra and Dionne Warwick. He went on to become musical director/arranger for many entertainers, including Don Rickles, Ben Vereen, Ann Jillian, Lorna Luft, and Clint Holmes. From Las Vegas, Kole moved to Los Angeles to work in television for Comedy Central: first as a co-composer/arranger for the highly rated series "Prime Time Glick" starring Martin Short, and then as co-composer and musical director on "Viva Variety." He has also scored children's programs for Nickelodeon and has written songs for the beloved Lamb Chop on Shari Lewis' "Lamb Chops Play-Along."

Fri, May 23, 8 pm /PAC-FH
Sat. May 24, 8 pm /MAH
Sun, May 25, 7:30 pm /REH