Jersey Shore Pops to Present Final Concert of the Year

COURT HOUSE – The Middle Township PAC in collaboration with Linda Gentille & The Jersey Shore Pops are proud to present their final concert of the year with “Joy to the World” on Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. This final concert for the orchestra will star the incredible Broadway vocalist Jacklyn Buckingham. The show will be a mix of traditional holiday music with some Broadway favorites of Ms. Buckingham. The orchestra will also perform a new orchestral arrangement of The Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah arranged by the Pop’s conductor Linda Gentille. A special musical vigil and dedication to Malala will be performed by the orchestra along with Elementary #2 Harmony Choir under the direction of Jay Wynn & Kathleen Watt.
Jacklyn Buckingham made her debut with the Pop in 2010 and was such a huge success, that they made her the first official regular guest vocalist for the orchestra. Buckingham is a Graduate of Montclair State University with a B.A. in Theater and a minor in Musical Theater. She has performed in numerous musicals including Les Miserables, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The World Goes Round and Cabaret. She is currently a member of the Shaken Not Stirred Players whose ‘Broadway By Request’ show has wowed audiences around the area and recently performed to a sold out audience at the Mohegan Sun Resort in Connecticut.
Making a guest appearance in the holiday show will be Avalon Tenor Frank Hampton. With training including the Juilliard School New York and Westminster Choir College, Princeton, tenor Frank Patrick Hampton has worked extensively on the opera and concert stages, as a choral conductor, and as a church organist.
Hampton made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut with the Chichester Psalms under the direction of Bobby McFerrin and his Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia debut in the Johannes Passion of Bach, as soloist for the Philadelphia Singers. He made his Philadelphia Academy of Music debut with the Savoy Company in the Gondoliers (Guiseppe), and was an award recipient of the Matinee Musical Club with a solo recital at the Academy Ballroom. He made his international debut in Vienna and Salzburg, Austria in the Schubert Mass in G, and debuted in Italy at the Spoleto Festival. He has also performed as a church soloist in Milano, Italy and Bremen, Germany. He has sung as soloist with the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, Ocean City Pops, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, the Riverside Symphonia, and the Jersey Shore Pops.
The holiday show will also feature the Jersey Shore Pops featured violinist and Concert Mistress Susan Elsayed. Elsayed studied with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and earned her violin performance Bachelor`s Degree from The Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. She was the Concertmistress of the Ocean City Pops during the 80`s under the leadership of Frank Ruggieri and currently is also violinist with the Masterworks Choir/Ensemble. Elsayed has performed in the main show rooms of the casinos for such headliners as Frank Sinatra, Josh Groban. Andrea Bocelli and Tony Bennett . featured violinist with the Carl Granieri That`s Italian Show. Elsayed and her daughter with the Pops since its inception in 2009. They have become one of the most popular acts to perform with the Jersey Shore Pops.
Linda Gentille is the founding musical director and conductor for the Jersey Shore Pops since 2009. She is a household name at the Jersey Shore as both a performer and musical arranger. She began her career with the great Liberace as a teen and has been a headliner in casinos and performing arts centers around the world. When not conducting the orchestra, she performs on luxury cruise lines, including Princess, Oceania, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.
The Jersey Shore Pops is a big band orchestra with string section, modeled after the orchestras of the Frank Sinatra era which featured a string section along with the big band sounds. The orchestra features 25 of the finest New Jersey musicians either born or based in New Jersey. The orchestra has been compared to the Philly Pops because like Nero, Gentille is also a pianist conductor and arranger. More and more Philly Pops fans have become season ticket holders for the Jersey Shore Pops because of the reasonable ticket prices and free and convenient parking offered by the venue of the Middle Township Performing Arts Center.
The Jersey Shore Pops is the resident orchestra of the Middle Township Performing Arts Center in Middle Township which is the most successful and prestigious performing venue in Cape May County, NJ. The performing arts center, located in the center of the county, is a 1000 seat state of the art facility which was built 10 years ago. Jersey Shore Pops has become the most popular show at the theater since it started in 2009 and is the first orchestral series to be held at the PAC. Kay Aspell, Managing Director of the center says,” Gentille is a household name down here at the shore and has been for years since she performed at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City for Donald Trump. As a piano soloist she was the biggest draw for us here at the PAC and now with the Jersey Shore Pops orchestra, she is the hottest ticket in town. People say she is better than Nero and has more stage charisma! We are so excited that this has been such a success!”
Advance tickets prices range from $25 for balcony seats to $40 for orchestra center seats. Student tickets are available along with group tickets for $22/ To purchase tickets for “Joy to the World” with Linda Gentille & The Jersey Shore Pops, call BP Ticket Office at 800-838-3006 or 609-463-1924 or order 24/7 online at www.JerseyShorePops.org. The box office at the PAC is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for walk in ticket purchases and is located at the Middle Township High School , Exit 10 (GSP).