Contacts: Laura Miller, CIS publicity, (515) 233-3731, or Mark Laycock, CIS conductor, (515) 294-3978

6/12/2003

SYMPHONY PRESENTS, AMES, BOONE SUMMER POPS CONCERTS

Give My Regards to Hollywood Saturday, June 28, 8 p.m., Bandshell Park, Ames Sunday, June 29, 7:30 p.m., Herman Park Pavilion, Boone

The Central Iowa Symphony will present a free outdoor pops program of Broadway and Hollywood showstoppers in Ames on Saturday, June 28 and again in Boone on Sunday, June 29. The 8 p.m. Ames concert is at Bandshell Park. The Boone program will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Herman Park Pavilion.

Iowa State University music professor Mark Laycock will lead the concert, which features a duet by tenor Donald Simonson and soprano Katy Argotsinger, and a solo by baritone Terence Goodman. Vocal performances highlight selections by George Gershwin, including "A Foggy Day," "Lady Be Good," and "Fascinatin' Rhythm," as well as songs from two recent musical hits, Parade and A New Brain. The symphony also will perform music from The King and I, Citizen Kane, Love Story, Rocky, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and Star Wars.

This year marks the fourth annual summer pops program for the 70-member Central Iowa Symphony. Concertgoers will also have the opportunity to purchase tickets for the 2003-04 concert season as a special reduced price.

Simonson is an associate professor and chair of the music and voice division in the ISU Department of Music. In addition to degrees from Drake University and Northwestern University, he has completed advanced study at the Akademie für Musik in Vienna, Austria. He has appeared in leading roles and as a soloist with opera companies, symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout Europe and America and has been featured on Austrian, German and Italian national radio and television broadcasts. Simonson is an active researcher, specializing in the acoustics of the voice. He teaches applied voice, diction, vocal pedagogy and vocal literature.

Argotsinger is an Iowa student majoring in vocal performance. A native of Storm Lake, she has just completed her junior year. Goodman is an assistant professor of theatre at Iowa State.