Jersey Shore Pops to Open Summer Season

COURT HOUSE – Linda Gentille and The Jersey Shore Pops will open their 2013 Summer Concert Series with “The Irish Tenor”. The opening night gala concert will be held June 29 at 7:30 p.m.. The concert will include traditional Irish favorites such as Danny Boy, My Wild Irish Rose, Irish Lullaby, Molly Malone, The Irish Washer Woman, and an original Irish Waltz Medley Overture arranged by conductor Linda Gentille . The star of the show, Colm Fitzmaurice will also sing hits from Broadway musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera and Westside Story.
Tenor Colm Fitzmaurice has been making his mark in Operetta, Opera and Music Theater throughout the United States and in Europe. In 2010, Colm returned to Opera Naples, singing Tamino in The Magic Flute. He maintains a busy schedule of Gilbert and Sullivan leading roles (his specialty) in New York City and throughout the United States. Colm tours regularly with The Three Waiters, bringing opera standards to new and unusual venues throughout the United States and neighboring countries.
Recently Colm returned to Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera as Henry in The Midnight Angel, a contemporary American opera. At Skylight, he has also appeared as Valére in Tartuffe and Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, a performance which was broadcast on Public Television. Other recent performances have included Alexis in The Sorcerer and Don Luis in El Barberillo de Lavapiés with Light Opera Oklahoma, The Merry Widow and HMS Pinafore with Chicago Light Opera Works, and a concert of Zarzuela and Spanish song in Pontevedre, Spain.
Colm made his European debut as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte in Paris. He returned to Europe, touring Germany as Tony in West Side Story, playing the main opera houses of Frankfurt, Baden-Baden, and in Bern, Switzerland. As Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Colm has appeared at The Ravinia Festival with Highland Park Opera and at the Bay View Festival. Other roles include Ferrando in Cosí fan Tutte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and various 20th century works.
Colm’s leading man looks and vocal charisma in the light opera repertoire have brought particular acclaim. In his debut with Virginia Opera in The Mikado, the Washington Post proclaimed him “a particularly golden-voiced and unflappable Nanki-Poo.” Regarding his debut with Dayton Opera in the title role of Candide, The American Record Guide noted “Colm Fitzmaurice’s Candide was solidly virile and virtuous, elegantly sung.” He is regularly featured in a number of leading roles with New York’s Gilbert and Sullivan Players including Ralph (HMS Pinafore), Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance), Hilarion (Princess Ida) and Marco (The Gondoliers). As Hilarion, The New York Times proclaimed him a “sweet voiced tenor,” and in Pirates, “a strong, likable portrayal of Frederic.”
Colm has frequently appeared as Romberg’s The Student Prince in Chicago (Light Opera Works), New York (New Rochelle Opera), Fort Lauderdale (Gold Coast Opera), and Fort Pierce (Treasure Coast Opera). As Camille (The Merry Widow), he has appeared in conjunction with Palm Beach Opera, with ArtPark (NY), New Rochelle Opera, Light Opera Works, and Treasure Coast Opera.
In New York, Colm has appeared several times with City Center Encores!, including their revival of Wonderful Town, where his role as the singing Cop required not only an Irish tenor, but a little Irish clogging as well. He was heard in a broadcast from Town Hall, NYC of Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. Other solo concert appearances include One World Symphony (in their New York Town Hall debut), The Aspen Music Festival under James Conlon, The Johnstown Symphony (PA), The Marion Symphony (IN), Missouri Symphony and The South Bay Master Chorale in Los Angeles.
Jersey Shore Pops regular guest vocalist Jacklyn Buckingham will return in her third season with the orchestra. She will join Fitzmaurice on the love duet from The Phantom of the Opera. Buckingham made her debut with the orchestra in 2010 and has become an audience favorite.
The Jersey Shore Pops 2013 SUMMER CONCERT SERIES will include 8 concerts with a focus on international guest stars from around the world. The series will open at the Middle Township Performing Arts Center the last weekend in June. The 8 concert series is as follows:
June 29, 7:30 p.m.: “The Irish Tenor” starring amazing Broadway Vocalist Colm Fitzmaurice
July 6,7:30 p.m.: “Stars & Stripes Forever” starring JSP conductor & piano entertainer Linda Gentille
July 13, 7:30 p.m.: “Legendary Voices in Concert ” starring French Canadian singing sensation Claude Eric
July 21, 7:00 p.m.: “ The Italian Tenor” starring Aaron Caruso
July 28, 7:00 p.m.: “The Swingin Sixties” starring JIM YESTER of The Association
August 4, 7:00 p.m. “Classics Rock” starring conductor & pianist Linda Gentille
August 10, 7:30 p.m. : “Music of “The Glenn Miller Orchestra”
August 17, 7:30 p.m. : “Sinatra & Friends” starring Peter Oprisko
Individual tickets are not on sale along with discounted season passes. The individual advance ticket prices will range from $25 for balcony seating to $40 for VIP orchestra center seating. Tickets at the door at the PAC will be raised to $30-$45. Season tickets range from $75 for 3 concerts -$225 for all 8 concerts. The deadline to purchase advance discounted season tickets is the night of the opening concert on June 29, 2013.
The Jersey Shore Pops now uses Brown Paper Tickets for phone and online ticketing. To purchase individual or Silver, Gold or Platinum Season Ticket Passes, please call the BP Box Office at 800-838-3006 . Tickets are only available by calling the box office or online at www.JerseyShorePops.org. All shows are at the Middle Township Performing Arts Center which is located at the Middle Township High School , Exit 10 (GSP).