Diana Ross Headlines the Center’s 35th Annual Candlelight Concert December 5 in Segerstrom Hall Broadway’s Barbara Cook and Opera Superstar Deborah Voigt Headline Candlelight Encore December 6 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts

COSTA MESA, CA – The Orange County Performing Arts Center’s 35th Candlelight Concert on Friday, December 5 will star Diana Ross, one of the most iconic female singers of all time and one of the most prominent women in popular music history and pop culture of the late 20th century. In addition to her Academy Award® nomination, Golden Globe Awards, Tony® Award and multiple Grammy® Awards, Ross’ lustrous career in music, film, television and theatre, as well as her cultural influences, humanitarian work and contributions to American culture were acknowledged by the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in December 2007. This will be the entertainment legend’s first appearance at the Center. Marta Bhathal and Pat Poss are co-chairing Candlelight Concert.

Candlelight Encore follows Candlelight Concert on Saturday, December 6, and guests will enjoy premiere seating in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a performance by Tony Award-winning Broadway star Barbara Cook and one of the world’s leading opera sopranos, Deborah Voigt. More than $1 million is raised from these events each year with proceeds going directly to the support of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Guests at Candlelight Encore will enjoy a private candlelit supper in Samueli Theater and prior to the performance. Hope Miller is chairing Candlelight Encore with co-chair Cindi Morales.

Every detail of Candlelight Concert is being designed to reflect the glamour, elegance and incomparable style associated with Miss Ross. The concert, dinner and dancing will encompass all of Segerstrom Hall. The 8,500-square-foot stage of Segerstrom Hall will be extended beyond the proscenium with multiterraced dining spaces and a dance floor covering the 1,000-seat orchestra section. Guests will enjoy Ross’ concert from their dinner tables, spaced to allow for dancing on every level as well as the dance floor. Candlelight Concert begins with a white carpet entrance to an elegant pre-concert reception featuring Ketel One Vodka’s signature ice bar. The 35th Candlelight Concert is supported through the generosity of major benefactor Lugano Diamonds for the second consecutive year.

Candlelight Encore begins with a celebrity red carpet reception and dinner in Samueli Theater which will be transformed into an elegant ballroom. Guests will then enjoy front row seats at the concert by Barbara Cook and Deborah Voigt which is a one-night-only performance in the Center’s Cabaret Series. Immediately following the concert, Encore patrons will return to Samueli Theater for dessert and a private reception with Miss Cook and Miss Voigt.

Seating for these exclusive events is very limited. For information regarding purchase of seats or tables to the 35th Annual Candlelight Concert or Candlelight Encore, please contact Stephanie Jernigan at714.556.2122 ext 4247 or via e-mail at SJernigan@ocpac.org.

Diana Ross The entertainment industry saluted her portrayal of Billie Holliday in the film Lady Sings the Blues with top awards and nominations. The Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences bestowed a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her extraordinary performance as Best Actress and The Golden Globe Awards gave her a trophy for that same role. Ross went on to star in further films, Mahogany and The Wiz. Ross won Broadway’s top honor with a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross. The same show was later broadcast as a television special.

Career milestones include induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, The Songwriters Hall of Fame, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Hero Award, NAACP Entertainer Award, Billboard’s Female Entertainer of the Century Award, The Soul Train Legend Award and International Lifetime Achievement at the World Music Awards. The iconic Ross is forever cemented in history with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “Stop! In The Name of Love,” “Where Did Our Love Go” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” have all been inducted into the NARAS Hall of Fame. “Stop! In The Name of Love” and “You Can’t Hurry Love” are among The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Songs that Shaped Rock & Roll. The Guinness Book of Records jointly awarded her with its Lifetime Achievement Award and the title of Most Successful Female Vocalist of All Time. She first reached the No.1 position on both the U.S. and UK charts with “Where Did Our Love Go.” This was the first of a number of consecutive No.1 hits in the U.S.

Beginning in the ‘60s, as lead singer in the world renowned group, The Supremes, Ross achieved the unprecedented feat of 12 No.1 singles in the U.S., becoming the most successful American group in history and rivaled only by The Beatles for the position of the biggest hit group of that generation. Rosswent on to achieve six No.1 singles as a solo artist amassing a total of 18 No.1s. Her phenomenal music career is marked by chart and commercial successes. In the U.S. alone, to date, she has tallied 31 Top Ten singles and 14 Top Ten Albums selling over 100 million units around the globe. When “Endless Love” hit No.1 in 1981, Ross became the first female artist in music history to place six singles at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Endless Love” remains on of the most successful duets in pop history.

Ross’ musical repertoire encompasses R&B, soul, pop, disco and jazz, and the recently released I Love You CD, jumped onto the chart as Billboard Magazine’s Hot Shot Debut title. As lead singer of The Supremes, in the ‘60s, Ross helped shape the sound of popular music, changing the landscape and paving the way for contemporary music. Her love of life, never-ending wonder, the appreciation of goals and achievements and sheer human spirit define the artist that is Ross and continue to make her one of the most identifiable, unique, beloved and influential singers of successive pop generations. Barbara Cook and Deborah Voigt

Barbara Cook's silvery soprano, purity of tone and warm presence have delighted audiences around the world for more than 50 years. Considered "Broadway's favorite ingenue" during the heyday of the Broadway musical, Cook then launched a second career as a concert and cabaret artist soaring from one professional peak to another.

Whether on the stages of major international venues throughout the world or in the intimate setting of New York's Café Carlyle, Cook's popularity continues to thrive. She has been honored with Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, a citation as a Living New York Landmark and her induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame. This year, the Metropolitan Opera presented Cook in her solo concert debut, making her the first female pop singer to be presented by the MET in the company's 123-year history.

Soprano Deborah Voigt is one of today’s most esteemed interpreters of the dramatic opera roles of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner, and also enjoys great acclaim in popular Italian operatic parts such as Tosca, Aida, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and Leonora in La forza del destino.

As guests at the Candlelight Encore concert will hear, Voigt is also a devotee of Broadway and the American Songbook. “Voigt ... comes to pop singing naturally. ... If this were 1970, she would probably be given her own network variety show,” raved Opera News. In addition to her operatic engagements with such companies at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago and others, she has sung three concerts with Cook and Dianne Reeves at the Hollywood Bowl and made an exciting debut in Lincoln Center’s long-running American Songbook series, singing Broadway and popular standards on the topic of travel.

Candlelight 2008 Special Events and Sponsors Adding to the momentum building to Candlelight Concert and Candlelight Encore will be several events hosted by generous sponsors. The Center applauds the support of Lugano Diamonds, Canali, Vanity Fairand Ketel One Vodka for their generous sponsorship of Candlelight Concert 2008.History of the Candlelight Tradition

The Candlelight tradition began in 1974, when a small group of community visionaries transformed avacant Kresge store into an elegant ballroom. The money raised from that first Candlelight Concert, as the event was titled, supported what was then called the Orange County Cultural Center, Inc. The committee called the evening “Candlelight” because they utilized subtle lighting with candles to add glamour to an otherwise utilitarian setting. This annual gala is held now in the magnificent performing arts facility that the founders envisioned, and it is a venerated holiday event for the Orange County Performing Arts Center and, indeed, all of Orange County.

Today, the Candlelight tradition includes both Candlelight Concert and Candlelight Encore, which are held on consecutive evenings in early December. They are the only Center fundraisers hosted by the Board of Directors and together now raise more than $1.3 million annually for the Center. The evenings feature private cocktail receptions, elegant dinners and dancing, as well as performances by celebrated artists. In   the past, guests have enjoyed concerts by such entertainment greats as Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Jay Leno, Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Kenny Loggins, Harry Belafonte and Johnny Mathis.

Over the years, the demand for tickets to Candlelight Concert, which is held on the main stage of Segerstrom Hall, has soared. Seating is limited and it is always a sell-out. In order to honor all requests to participate in the Candlelight tradition, a second, brilliant evening was added in 1998: Candlelight Encore.

The combined guest lists are a Who’s Who of Orange County’s business leaders and movers and shakers. In particular, Candlelight Encore attracts many of the Center’s founders and Orange County’s first families.

2008 Candlelight Concert Committee

Marta Bhathal                   Pat Poss

Co-Chair                                Co-chair

Janis Agopian, Chair Auction Committee

Barbara Glabman, Chair Hostess Committee

Terry Goldfarb-Lee, Chair Underwriting Committee

Eve Kornyei, Co-chair Underwriters’ Reception

Harriet Sandhu, Co-chair Underwriters’ Reception

Candlelight Encore Committee

Hope Miller            Cindi Morales

Chair                          Co-Chair

Orange County Performing Arts Center

The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a wide variety of the most significant national and international productions of music, dance and theater to the people of Southern California. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through an array of inspiring programs and an unsurpassed attendance experience.

It owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater and the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center. These state-of-the-art facilities are united by a community arts plaza and outdoor performance venue. The Center’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and community plaza, along with facilities of the adjacent Tony® Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the new home of the Orange County Museum of Art, are located at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, up and coming indie bands, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These   programs reach more than 500,000 students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center is proud to serve as the artistic home to the region’s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Opera Pacific and the Pacific Chorale. For more information, visit OCPAC.org.

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