Cyndi Lauper To Perform With The New York Pop For Its 36th Birthday Gala, On Monday, April 29 At Carnegie Hall

April 23, 2019, New York, NY — Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning music icon Cyndi Lauper will perform with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall as the orchestra presents its 36th Birthday Gala, Hall Full of Stars: The Songs of Cyndi Lauper on Monday, April 29, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Guest artists include Annaleigh Ashford, Boy George, Estelle, Bridget Everett, Lena Hall, Nona Hendryx, Carly Rae Jepsen, Ingrid Michaelson, Alex Newell, and Stark Sandsperforming songs from throughout Cyndi Lauper’s storied career including: “Time After Time,” “Who Let in the Rain,” “True Colors”, and “Soul of a Man” from the long-running Broadway hit Kinky Boots, plus more.

The festive evening additionally honors media executive Ken Lowe, founder of Scripps Networks and Discovery Board Member.

Co-chairs for the event include Lisa Barbaris (So What Management), Tina Fey (writer, actress and producer), Billie Jean King (sports icon and social justice pioneer), Jeff Sagansky (Platinum Eagle), and David Zaslav (Discovery).

The concert also features twenty participants from The New York Pops’ Kids on Stageprogram. The Kids on Stage program provides middle school students access to the professional performance process through an audition process, comprehensive rehearsal period, and performance with the orchestra on the Carnegie Hall stage at the Gala concert.

Proceeds from the Gala support the orchestra and the organization’s PopsEd music education programs. The concert is followed by a black tie dinner and dance at the Mandarin Oriental New York.

Concert Information

THE NEW YORK POPS 36TH BIRTHDAY GALA

Hat Full of Stars: The Songs of Cyndi Lauper

Monday, April 29, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall

Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor

Cyndi Lauper, Music Honoree

Ken Lowe, Corporate Honoree

Annaleigh Ashford, Boy George, Estelle, Bridget Everett, Lena Hall, Nona Hendryx, Carly Rae Jepsen, Ingrid Michaelson, Alex Newell, and Stark Sands, Guest Artists

Kids on Stage Students

Children of Ronald McDonald House New York Camp Broadway Kids, Cindy Thole, Director/Choreographer, Christine Riley, Music Director

Gala Co-Chairs

Lisa Barbaris, So What Management

Tina Fey, Writer, Actress, Producer

Billie Jean King, Sports Icon and Social Justice Pioneer

Jeffrey Sagansky, Platinum Eagle

David Zaslav, Discovery

Ticket Information

Concert-only tickets, priced from $75, are available at newyorkpops.org or by calling 212-765-7677.

Tickets are also available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, at 57th and Seventh, or by phone at CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, or at carnegiehall.org.

Tickets to the full gala evening range from $1,500 (concert and dinner seating for one) to $50,000 (premier concert seating and VIP dinner table for eight). For more information about the black-tie dinner and dance at the Mandarin Oriental New York, call 212-765-7677 or visit www.newyorkpops.org.

About the Orchestra

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, The New York Pops continues to re-imagine orchestral pops music. The orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall and a summer series at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, NY. The New York Pops is dedicated to lifelong learning and collaborates with public schools, community organizations, children’s hospitals and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. PopsEd allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun.

Steven Reineke has established himself as one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music. This season Mr. Reineke celebrates his tenth anniversary as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he is Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and his extensive North American conducting appearances include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Edmonton, San Francisco and Sarasota. On stage, Reineke has created programs and collaborated with a range of leading artists from the worlds of hip hop, Broadway, television and rock including Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Peter Frampton and Ben Folds, among others. In 2017, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” featured Reineke leading the National Symphony Orchestra performing live music excerpts between news segments — a first in the show’s 45-year history. In 2018 Reineke led the National Symphony Orchestra with hip hop legend Nas performing his seminal album "Illmatic" on PBS's Great Performances. As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Reineke’s work has been performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare was used to commemorate the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands worldwide.

About PopsEd

The New York Pops is dedicated to lifelong learning, and collaborates with public schools, community organizations, children’s hospitals, and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. PopsEd allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun. PopsEd makes music open to all, and use tools like composition, lyric writing, performance and mentorship to foster learning and unbridled creativity. In doing so, PopsEd excites students and gives them skills that they can apply to all areas of their lives.

About the Honorees

Cyndi Lauper is a groundbreaking Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning songwriter and performing artist with global record sales in excess of 50 million. Her iconic voice, influential punk glamour, and infectious live shows have catapulted her to stardom. Lauper won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist with her first album, She's So Unusual, and became the first woman in history to have four top-five singles from a debut album. Since then, Lauper has released ten additional studio albums, yielding timeless classics like “Time After Time” and “True Colors”, and the anthemic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. She’s been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, seven American Video Awards, and 18 MTV Awards.

In 2013, Cyndi Lauper became the first solo woman to win Best Original Score (music and lyrics) for Kinky Boots. She contributed a Tony-nominated song to the score of the Broadway musical SpongeBob SquarePants and is currently writing the score for the Broadway adaptation of the 1988 feature film Working Girl. A pillar of female success, Lauper was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, released a New York Times best-selling memoir, and continues to collect impressive accolades across the music industry and beyond. In 2018, Lauper designed and launched a sold-out Home Decor Collection with Grandin Road and added a guest starring role on CBS’ hit TV show Magnum PI to her acting resume. She closed out 2018 by receiving the “Icon Award” from Billboard at its 13th annual Women In Music event and brought down the house with a rousing tribute to Cher at the Kennedy Center Honors.

In addition, Lauper is tireless in her advocacy work. She has been an activist since day one, always fighting for the underdog—especially women, people living with HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ people. Her commitment runs so deep that she started her own charity in 2008, the True Colors United, to bring an end to homelessness amongst LGBTQ youth, who make up to 40% of the youth homelessness population.

Over the past 10 years, the True Colors United has had an indelible impact on ending youth homelessness in America. From playing a lead role in securing $167.5 million in new annual federal funding from Congress to invest in 46 communities across the country, which Cyndi powerfully testified in support of in the U.S. Senate, to training close to 2,000 homeless youth service providers for free over the past year to inclusively work with LGBTQ youth, Cyndi and the True Colors United are fundamentally changing how the country is working to prevent and end youth homelessness for the 4.2 million youth who experience it each year.

Corporate Honoree Kenneth W. Lowe is the Former Chairman, President and CEO, of Scripps Networks Interactive. Ken served as Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scripps Networks Interactive from the company’s split with The E.W. Scripps Company in 2008 until its sale to Discovery in 2018. With a pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit, Lowe was the media visionary who took his idea for a cable network about homes and gardens, and turned it into a global media lifestyle content giant operating in 175 countries around the world.

Mr. Lowe joined The E.W. Scripps Company in 1980 as general manager of the company’s radio properties. In 1988, he became Vice President of programming, promotion and marketing for the company’s nine network-affiliated television stations. In the early 1990s, Mr. Lowe pitched the idea for HGTV to the company’s board of directors, securing a $25 million investment. The network launched in 1994 and became profitable after only three years, serving as the catalyst and foundation for growth of Knoxville-based Scripps Networks.

Prior to 2000, Mr. Lowe served as Chairman and CEO of Scripps Networks, building the company into one of the world’s fastest growing and most successful creators of unique brands for cable television and the Internet. In addition to founding HGTV, he oversaw the acquisition and transformation of Food Network into an American pop culture icon, and presided over the launches of the DIY Network and Cooking Channel, as well as the acquisitions of Travel Channel and Great American Country television networks.

After 20 years with E.W. Scripps, Mr. Lowe was named President and CEO of the company in 2000. Under his leadership, the company evolved into one of America’s most forward thinking media companies, creating significant long-term shareholder value along the way. He served in that capacity until 2008, when Scripps Networks Interactive became a separate, publicly traded company. Mr. Lowe directed the company’s rapid expansion as a global media company, including the 2015 acquisition of Poland’s premier multi-platform and multi-channel media company, TVN. Mr. Lowe also guided the development of the company’s growing portfolio of interactive content services in the food, home, and travel lifestyle categories.

He began his career in radio with Southern Broadcasting in 1969 and continued with various management positions in radio and television with Harte-Hanks Broadcasting in the late 1970s. Mr. Lowe has served on scores of business, community, and media-sector boards, and he currently serves as a Director on the board of Discovery.

He has been recognized with more than a dozen prestigious awards and honors in national media and business. In 2017, he was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, the Junior Achievement Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame, the Junior Achievement of East Tennessee Business Hall of Fame, and the North Carolina Broadcasting Hall of Fame. A North Carolina native, Mr. Lowe received a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio, television and motion pictures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the University of Tennessee.