Jodie DeSalvo to Conduct Naples Community Orchestra Pops Concerts in Season Finale

NAPLES, Fla. (Apr 13, 2022) – The Naples Community Orchestra will conclude its season series with two pops concerts on Friday April 29 at 7 PM and Saturday April 30 at 3:00 PM at Moorings Presbyterian Church, 791 Harbour Drive in Naples. The concert will feature Naples’ own acclaimed pianist, Jodie DeSalvo who will not only be performing but also conducting the orchestra for the first time. In addition, critically acclaimed Broadway star tenor soloist Jonathan Zeng will perform. The program includes a variety of America’s favorite music from Broadway hits and Hollywood movies plus standard cross-generational classics.

This season, each guest conductor has hand selected their program and invoked their own unique repertoire which has significantly broadened the array of music performed by the orchestra. The pops concert features DeSalvo on piano playing George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” and conducting the orchestra performing “American Salute” composed by Morton Gould, and Leroy Anderson, “Bugler’s Holiday” and “The Typewriter.” The orchestra will also perform Star Wars composed by John Williams. Zeng will sing several pieces including “Night and Day,” and “Impossible Dream.”

Ticket reservations can be made online at naplescommunityorchestra.org. Complimentary tickets are available for students with valid student identification. Electronic tickets will be sent by email. Ticket holders may print them out or have them available on a smartphone to scan at the door. The concerts will also be live streamed. Contact tkingnco@gmail.com for more information.

NCO’s 2022 concert series is inspired by the community partnerships the orchestra has forged with Artis—Naples, FGCU and Collier County Public Schools (CCPS). The orchestra welcomes the participation of student musicians from both FGCU and CCPS high schools. NCO’s partnership with Artis—Naples provides musicians for conducting, sectional rehearsals, soloists, and rehearsal and event space. Auditions for a permanent conductor for the NCO will be taking place in June.

Refer to the orchestra’s website for most current COVID-related policies for attendees. Capacity in the concert venue is limited to 300 in order to provide sufficient social distancing. As guests enter the sanctuary, they will space themselves appropriately. Ushers will be present to assist guests to available seats.

Jodie DeSalvo has captured national and international attention with her classical and jazz interpretations of the masters of keyboard literature. Upon winning the Artist International Competition in 1988, Ms. DeSalvo made her Carnegie Hall debut to critical acclaim with an encore performance two years later at Lincoln Center. She has been a top prize winner in the Young Keyboard Artists Competition, the American Music Scholarship Competition and the National Federation of Music Clubs Competition. A graduate of the Hartt and Manhattan Schools of Music, and a former student of John Browning and Gary Graffman, she is also a past recipient of the Artist Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lauded for his versatility as a performer and accomplished in Musical Theater, Opera, Oratorio and Concert repertoire, critically acclaimed tenor, Jonathan Zeng, has performed throughout the United States with companies such as Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, Utah Festival Opera, and the Princeton Festival. With a voice described by Chicago publications as “valiant”, “stunning”, “vibrant”, and “rich”, Jonathan is based in Chicago and has appeared as soloist with The William Ferris Chorale in the American premiere of John Joubert’s Five Songs of Incarnation and Bonaventura Somma’s Missa Pro Defunctis. You may also have seen him singing with the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, in Johnny Johnson or The Csardas Princess with Chicago Folks Operetta, or performing in Chicago Fringe Opera productions All Wounds Bleed, The Long Christmas Dinner, Trouble In Tahiti, Turn of the Screw, and Song From the Uproar.

Naples Community Orchestra is Naples’ premier community orchestra. Founded in 1993 by the late Ralph Stewart, the organization is dedicated to bringing the finest in orchestral performance to Naples, Fla. Naples Community Orchestra is a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Learn more at NaplesCommunityOrchestra.org.