David Archuleta’s A2SO Concert Score Was Done by Disney Especially for Friday’s Show
Sunday, November 22, 2009 from: www.annarbor.com
Santa isn’t the only celebrity coming to town this holiday season.
The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra will team up with “American Idol” singer David Archuleta on Friday night for a concert titled “Christmas From the Heart” at Hill Auditorium.
The concert is in support of Archuleta’s `new, Yule-themed CD of the same name. Tickets went on sale at the end of October, and more than one-third of Hill’s available 3,500 seats sold out in the first week, attracting fans from as far away as San Francisco.
The concert, an addition to the symphony’s regular season, is a bit unusual since the performing arts have been among those especially hard-hit by the economy.
“Where other orchestras are cutting concerts to balance budgets, we’re adding a concert,” said Dave Siefkes, the A2SO marketing director. “Symphonies around the country are all trying different things, they are more willing to look beyond the traditional. … The thing that drove it for me was trying to get a broader audience.”
In addition to Christmas songs, Archuleta’s program will include his hit, “Crush,” as well as “Zero Gravity” and a few other non-holiday tunes. The symphony will offer “Sleigh Ride” and a selection from the “Nutcracker,” Siefkes added, “but mostly it’s David.”
The symphony is partnering with Radio Disney for the show, a first for both organizations that could include two more concerts in future years, said Siefkes. The score for the Ann Arbor performance was done by Disney especially for the show.
“They had some small scores for his Christmas album, but nothing like this,” Siefkes added. “It was a learning process for them. They basically orchestrated everything for us. It has never been performed before.”
Siefkes said interest has been strong from around the country. “Fan sites have been unbelievable about this because it
is only (concert) on his tour with a symphony orchestra,” said Siefkes.
Siefkes said work on the Archuleta concert started last January with a sales call. “Radio Disney called on me trying to sell me some advertising. I had a great talk with their rep. It turned into me saying ‘You know, the symphony should do a concert with Disney.’ One of my ideas was we could perform the music live to ‘Fantasia.’”
Disney’s Detroit general manager came to Ann Arbor, heard the symphony perform, and was sold.
“They came out and saw the quality of the product,” Siefkes explained. The only thing that remained was to decide what to do. A brainstorming session followed.
“I’m a big ‘American Idol’ fan,” Siefkes admitted. David Archuleta was one name I threw out. They brought up other names, like Taylor Swift. I brought up Miley Cyrus. Miley was very expensive, Taylor was even more expensive.”
Although younger people know who Archuleta is, at least one member of the symphony found his generation gap showing.
“When we first told (conductor Arie Lipsky) that we were considering a show with David Archuleta, Arie said ‘Who’s he?’ (Then) all of his sudden his daughter is screaming in the background. And dad’s a rock star now. He’s conducting David Archuleta,” Siefkes said.
Although Siefkes wouldn’t say how much the A2SO had to pay for Archuleta, “this is the most we’re paying for a soloist ever … (but) I think we’ll sell it out.”
Siefkes said the concert will help the A2SO conclude the year on a high note.
“A lot of symphonies are down in attendance and subscriptions. We’re actually up, in fact we set a record this year for subscribers.” The previous record, he said, was 733 subscribers. This year, the A2SO has 963.
Ultimately, the show will be good for the symphony for several reasons.
“Money-wise and exposure-wise and reputation-wise, the fact of being able to work with the Disney company is great, the quality is superior and that was important to them, just like it was important to us,” Siefkes added.
He said the musicians are jazzed about the Christmas show.
“From what I’ve heard they are pretty excited. Some were very sad they were going to be out of town for Thanksgiving. Again, if they’ve got kids, they’re going to be the rock stars — and we’re adding services to the season for them, a chance to perform some more and get paid for it.”
Last 3 posts by Kizzi
- David Archuleta ~ a wellspring of smiles - March 12th, 2010
- David Archuleta.com: Classy New Web Site (Or Maybe Not - See Comments) - March 7th, 2010
- David Archuleta Songs ~ Find 'Em in this Word Search Puzzle - March 6th, 2010
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
China80 (1)
ozarko (1)
So happy to read this piece on how David was able to have a full orchestra. Interesting reading on the details of how this concert was put together. More important, that David sounds like he is coming into his own. Bravo! I am going to the Anaheim concert and bringing four others with me. David has such loyal fans. It’s been over a year since “Idol” and we have never waivered. We’re as strong as ever—stronger!
Mary Lou
said this on
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
(Quote)
Can you say EPIC?!
WG
said this on
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
(Quote)
This article about the concert David will be doing with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra provided lots of very interesting information. I hadn’t heard before that Disney was involved with the concert and its orchestration. It’s also kind of different to think about the idea of David being brought in to be the guest soloist for this performance, as opposed to doing his own shows the rest of the tour. I guess there’s always something new going on for us to learn about!
B in Wisconsin
said this on
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:24 am
(Quote)
B – this was also the first I heard of Disney involvement — and I never thought about this performance this way either “Guest Soloist” — I like how that sounds!
archiefandoc
said this on
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:00 am
(Quote)