I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS: A SALUTE TO THE MILITARY AND FIRST RESPONDERS 2019

David Charles Abell, Conductor

Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center for Performing Arts

300 South Broad Street

Philadelphia, PA 19102

Get Directions

06 December 2019

See All Dates & Times

Featuring

Mandy Gonzalez

The Philly POPS, the largest standalone pops orchestra in the country, is ushering in the holiday season for more than 2,000 members of the active military, veterans, and first responders in the Greater Philadelphia area with a free holiday concert honoring their service.

Your support will allow members of the military, veterans, first responders and their families to attend the Christmas Salute free of charge and enjoy an evening of holiday celebration and recognition of their service.

Please consider supporting our American heroes by sponsoring I'll Be Home for Christmas: A Salute to the Military and First Responders.

This benefit concert takes place on the first night of the 2019 A Philly POPS Christmas: Spectacular Sounds of the Season! concert series. Individual tickets for this event on December 6 are not available for purchase.

Helpful Information
This program, including intermission, is approximately two and a half hours in length. Artists and program are subject to change without notice.
Discounted parking passes are available from select garages. For more information, please call 215.893.1999.

Photography
We hope all of our guests will have a great time and make many memories at our concerts and events. Post your photos or videos on social media and include #phillypops for a chance to win a pair of tickets to any upcoming concert in the current or following season! Please refrain from flash photography and videography in the concert hall.

Enjoy the show!

Guest Artists

David Charles Abell, Music Director & Principal Conductor

More

Born in North Carolina, Music Director & Principal Conductor David Charles Abell grew up in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, attending Germantown Friends School through the sixth grade. A gifted musician from a young age, his study of trumpet, viola, piano, and composition eventually led to a concentration on conducting. He attended Yale University, the Juilliard School, and the Conservatoire Américain in France, where he studied under Nadia Boulanger. At age 13, David met Leonard Bernstein while singing in the world premiere of Bernstein’s Mass in Washington, D.C. Ten years later, David assisted his teacher John Mauceri in the tenth anniversary production of Mass, leading to a close association with Bernstein—as both a conducting student and as an editor of Bernstein’s music.

David made his debut with The Philly POPS in 2013’s Christmas Spectacular, returning again in 2014 and 2015. He has since conducted Blockbuster Broadway in 2017, Lenny’s Revolution in 2018, and will lead 2019’s A Philly POPS Christmas and 2020’s Hammerstein: The Song Is You! In addition to his work with The Philly POPS, David conducts concerts, opera, and theatre performances around the world. He has performed with such distinguished artists as Dame Judi Dench ,Dame Emma Thompson, Heather Headley, Idina Menzel, Petula Clark, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, and Matthew Morrison. He has conducted many prominent orchestras, including the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Atlanta and Cincinnati Symphonies, and Boston Pops.

David is widely known to TV audiences for the 10thand 25th anniversary Les Misérables concerts, both of which have become PBS fund-raising perennials. In the UK, he has performed many times on television, most notably as conductor of the immensely successful Sondheim 80th birthday Prom and as the conductor for four years of the Olivier Awards, the UK’s equivalent to the Tony Awards. Recently, he made his Zurich Opera debut with Sweeney Todd, starring Sir Bryn Terfel.

David currently lives in London.

Mandy Gonzalez, vocalist

More

Mandy Gonzalez possesses one of the most powerful and versatile contemporary voices of our time. Currently starring as Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway juggernaut Hamilton, she is perhaps best known for her emotional portrayal of Nina Rosario in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, In The Heights, a role she originally created Off-Broadway at 37 Arts, and for which she received a Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble. She has starred as Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked, blowing the roof off of New York’s Gershwin Theatre each night as she belted out the signature song, “Defying Gravity,” and for which she was honored with a Broadway.com Award for Best Replacement. Other Broadway roles include Princess Amneris in the Elton John and Tim Rice musical, Aida, and Lennon, where she portrayed multiple roles including Beatles icon John Lennon. Mandy made her Broadway debut in Jim Steinman’s Dance of the Vampires, starring opposite Michael Crawford.

Mandy received an OBIE Award and overwhelming critical praise for her performance in the Off-Broadway production of Eli’s Comin’, directed by Diane Paulus, and based on the music and lyrics of singer-songwriter Laura Nyro. Television viewers have had the pleasure of seeing Mandy recur as Agent Susan Combs on the hit series “Quantico,” as well as guest appearances on “Doubt,” “White Collar,” “The Good Wife,” among others.

Equally at home on the big and small screen, she has appeared in “Across the Universe,” directed by Julie Taymor, “After,” starring opposite Pablo Schreiber, and “Man on a Ledge” with Sam Worthington. Mandy can be heard as the voice of Mei in Disney’s “Mulan 2,” on recordings of the original Broadway cast album of “In the Heights,” “Kerrigan-Lowdermilk Live,” and “The Man Who Would Be King."

A frequent concert soloist, she has performed with symphony orchestras including Cleveland Orchestra, Philly Pops, Naples Philharmonic, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Arkansas, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Youngstown Symphonies She has also started working on her first solo album with plans for a 2017 release. Mandy can currently be seen as the recurring character Lucy Knox on the hit CBS drama, “Madam Secretary.”

If you are interested in sponsoring The Salute Series at any level, please contact Joshua Thomas, Senior Manager of Development, at [email protected] or 215-546-3207.

Major Sponsorship - $75,000

Below the title naming rights in all media and press for the Salute Series
Press release regarding Major Sponsorship
Category Exclusivity
Full Page, full color front inside cover ad in the Christmas Salute commemorative program book
Sponsor Page Listing in the Christmas Salute commemorative program book
Name/Company listed on Kimmel Center lobby digital signage two hours before, during, and one hour after all Philly POPS Salute Series concerts as permitted
Name/Company listed on The Philly POPS Website and on any partner websites made available
Logo representation and Donor Listing in all program books through the Subscription Series Season
Ten (10) tickets to the Christmas Salute performance and pre-concert sponsor dinner
Eight (8) tickets to the pre-concert dinners for Memorial Day, July 3 and 4
Eight (8) additional tickets to each Salute Series performance

Key Sponsorship - $50,000

Press Release mention in all press materials for the Salute Series
Category exclusivity
Full page, full color back cover ad in the Christmas Salute commemorative program book
Sponsor Page Listing in the Christmas Salute commemorative program book
Name/Company listed on Kimmel Center lobby digital signage two hours before, during and one hour after all Philly POPS Salute Series concerts as permitted
Name/Company listed on The Philly POPS Website
Logo representation and Donor Listing in all program books through the Subscription Series Season
Six (6) tickets to the Christmas Salute performance and pre-concert sponsor dinner
Four (4) tickets to the pre-concert dinners for Memorial Day, July 3 and 4
Six (6) additional tickets to each Salute Series performance

Sponsorship - $25,000

Press Release mention in all press materials for the Salute Series
Full page, full color ad in the Christmas Salute commemorative program
Sponsor Page Listing in the Christmas Salute commemorative program book
Name/Company listed on Kimmel Center lobby digital signage two hours before, during and one hour after all Philly POPS Salute Series concerts as permitted
Name/Company listed on The Philly POPS Website
Logo representation and Donor Listing in all program books through the Subscription Series Season
Four (4) tickets to the Christmas Salute performance and pre-concert sponsor dinner
Four (4) tickets to the pre-concert dinners for Memorial Day, July 3 and 4
Four (4) additional tickets to each Salute Series performance

Veterans Commendation - $15,000

Eight (8) tickets to the Christmas Salute pre-concert sponsor dinner and tribute concert
Full page, full color ad in the Christmas Salute Encore! commemorative program
Sponsor Page Listing in the Christmas Salute Encore! commemorative program book
Donor Listing in all program books through the season
Name/Company listed on the Kimmel Center lobby digital signage two hours before, during and one hour after the Christmas Salute Concert
Name/Company listed on The Philly POPS Website

Responders Citation - $10,000

Six (6) tickets to the Christmas Salute pre-concert sponsor dinner and tribute concert
Full page, full color ad in the Christmas Salute Encore! commemorative program
Sponsor Page Listing in the Christmas Salute Encore! commemorative program book
Donor Listing in all program books through the season
Name/Company listed on the Kimmel Center lobby digital signage two hours before, during and one hour after the Christmas Salute Concert
Name/Company listed on The Philly POPS Website

Protectors Accolade - $5,000

Four (4) tickets to the Christmas Salute pre-concert sponsor dinner and tribute concert
Half page, full color ad in the Christmas Salute Encore! commemorative program
Sponsor Page Listing in the Encore! commemorative program book
Donor Listing in all program books through the season
Name/Company listed on the Kimmel Center lobby digital signage two hours before, during and one hour after the Christmas Salute Concert
Name/Company listed on The Philly POPS Website

Sentinel Honor - $2,500

Two (2) tickets to the Christmas Salute pre-concert sponsor dinner and tribute concert
Half page, full color ad in the Christmas Salute Encore! commemorative program
Sponsor Page Listing in the Encore! commemorative program book
Donor Listing in all program books through the season
Name/Company listed on The Philly POPS Website