The New York Pops Announces Guest Artists For 36th Birthday Gala Hat Full Of Stars: The Songs Of Cyndi Lauper

March 6, 2019, New York, NY — The New York Pops, led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke , today announces an initial line-up of guest artists for its 36th Birthday Gala, Hat Full of Stars: The Songs of Cyndi Lauper on Monday, April 29, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, presented by The New York Pops. The festive evening honors Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning music icon Cyndi Lauper in addition to corporate honoree media executive Ken Lowe, founder of Scripps Networks and Discovery Board Member. 

Guest artists from across the recording industry and the Broadway community will come together to pay tribute to their friend and inspiration Cyndi Lauper and include: Annaleigh Ashford, Boy George, Estelle, Bridget Everett, Nona Hendryx, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Stark Sands. Additional guest artists to be announced. 

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). 

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. 

The New York Pops 2018-19 season additionally includes Movie Mixtape on Friday, March 15 at 8:00 p.m. with Mykal Kilgore, Storm Large, Ashley Park, and Ryan Silverman. 

 

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, Nona Hendryx, Carly Rae Jepsen, 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 Artists 

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

Possessing one of the most instantly recognizable voices in the history of the recording industry, Cyndi Lauper is a Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning music icon with global record sales in excess of 50 million albums. 

Lauper burst into the public consciousness in 1983 with the release of her debut album, She's So Unusual, featuring the enduring singles “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “She Bop,” “All Through the Night,” “Money Changes Everything,” and “When You Were Mine.” Its wild international success made Lauper a household name and cultural icon, as well as the first female in history to have four top-five singles from a debut album. She went on to win a Grammy Award for Best New Artist . Since then, Lauper has released ten additional studio albums, covering a seemingly endless range of genres, including rock, new wave, pop, reggae, punk, country, standards, and more. Over the course of her now-legendary music career, Lauper has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, seven American Video Awards, and 18 MTV Awards. In 2015, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 

An Emmy Award winner for her guest-starring role as Marianne Lugasso on “Mad About You,” Lauper continues to show her range as an actress and personality on television and film. Since making her major motion picture debut in Vibes in 1988, Lauper has gone on to appear in a wide range of films including Here and There , Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Life with Mikey , Off and Running , and The Opportunists, for which she earned rave reviews. In 2014, Cyndi lent her voice to the animated film Henry & Me, opposite Richard Gere, Chazz Palminteri, and Luis Guzmán. From 2011 through 2017, she played the bewitching psychic Avalon Harmonia as a series regular on the Fox TV show “Bones.” 

In 2006, she made her acclaimed stage debut on Broadway as Jenny in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Tony Award nominated revival of The Threepenny Opera . She returned to Broadway in 2013 – this time as the composer and lyricist of the smash hit musical adaptation of the British film Kinky Boots . Kinky Boots went on to win six Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score. It was the first time in theater history that a solo female composer took home the coveted prize for Score. Kinky Boots ’ Original Broadway Cast Recording also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album -- Lauper’s second Grammy win exactly 30 years after her first. Now in its sixth year on Broadway, Kinky Boots has been seen by more than five million people around the world, playing to sold-out crowds in seven countries across four continents. It is currently listed at #32 on the list of the 100 longest-running Broadway productions of all time. Her work on Broadway continues, having contributed a song to the score of the new hit musical Spongebob Squarepants . She is currently writing the score for the Broadway adaptation of the 1988 feature film Working Girl. 

In 2012, she added “New York Times best-selling author” to her list of credits with the release of her Simon & Schuster-published autobiography, Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir. 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 Billboardatits13t h annualWomenInMusiceventandbroughtdownthehousewitharousingtributeto Cher at 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 in 2008 she started her own charity, True Colors United, to bring an end to homelessness amongst LGBTQ youth.

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. 

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Image of Cyndi Lauper by Helen Maybanks; image of Boy George by Dean Stockings; image of Estelle by James Anthony; image of Nona Hendryx by Kwaku Alston; image of Carly Rae Jepsen by Natalie O’Moore