Hayley in Madison, Wisconsin - December 18th & 19th, 2014

[vinthian]

Dec 14, 2014 13:52:35 GMT afaninchicago said:

Hi all, Alicia is planning to meet my husband and me for dinner before the show on Friday night. I'm not sure who is going to be around for that one, but perhaps we could find a restaurant close to the venue that would be amenable to all of us. We have general admission seating as well, so an early dinner around 5 p.m. would probably be best.
Melody

Count me in! I'll be staying at the Best Western on both Thursday and Friday night.


Nhat

[Libby]

Dec 14, 2014 17:08:48 GMT vinthian said:

Dec 14, 2014 13:52:35 GMT afaninchicago said:

Hi all, Alicia is planning to meet my husband and me for dinner before the show on Friday night. I'm not sure who is going to be around for that one, but perhaps we could find a restaurant close to the venue that would be amenable to all of us. We have general admission seating as well, so an early dinner around 5 p.m. would probably be best.
Melody

Count me in! I'll be staying at the Best Western on both Thursday and Friday night.


Nhat

That's great! It's getting hard to keep track of everybody!

So, I would say maybe Pete and I could tag along with Bill and Susan (if he wants to), and Alicia can be with Melody and her husband... maybe Nhat could fit in your car, too? i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Oh well, I'm sure some of this we can figure out when we get there.

[frenchie]

Libby, it's a great idea however Melody is talking about Friday night.

OK. I feel like Libby, I want to make sure that my mental list of who is coming which night is correct here. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thursday night:
Libby
Pete from the OS
myself
vinthian (Nhat)
Bill and Susan
Katie
Larry

Friday:
afaninchicago (Melody)
vinthian
myself


As for restaurants near the theater, there are quite a few around the Capital building. Here is a list that seems to be on the theater's side that my computer brought up:
Coopers Tavern (Burgers, Mifflin St., $$)
Brocach Irish Pub (Burgers, W Main St., $$)
Fromagination (Subs, S Carroll St., $)
Myles Teddywedgers (Pastries, State St, $)
Dlux (Burgers Sandwichs, Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, $$)
Merchant (American/Oriental, S Pinckney St, $$$)

Please feel free to comment or add your finds. I don't know what you guys like or don't like. I did go for the lower end of the pay scale cause I know some of us don't want to pay an arm and a leg for dinner.

Anyways, is anyone going to *coughs* make a bootleg *coughs again* of the show? I mean, bring your IPhone? Just curious, that's all.
Alicia

[Libby]

For those of us staying at the BW, there is Jerome's restaurant, as well. I don't want to spend too much time wandering around town, or, paying a lot of money.

So, Pete and I might just have to stick together, since we're sitting together, anyway.

[afaninchicago]

My husband and I like the looks of The Old Fashioned, which is very reasonable in price and also only two blocks from the theater. Website is theoldfashioned.com if anyone wants to look at their menus.

[Bamafan]

Here's an article on the concerts coming up this week, including a couple new snippets of an interview from Hayley:

host.madison.com/wsj/entertainment/music/new-zealand-star-hayley-westenra-warms-a-wisconsin-holiday/article_ba6cd41c-bc03-51c0-a19d-eaf541c8c618.html

-Taylor

[gillette]

Dec 15, 2014 18:24:46 GMT Bamafan said:

Here's an article on the concerts coming up this week, including a couple new snippets of an interview from Hayley:

host.madison.com/wsj/entertainment/music/new-zealand-star-hayley-westenra-warms-a-wisconsin-holiday/article_ba6cd41c-bc03-51c0-a19d-eaf541c8c618.html

-Taylor

Hi,
A very nicely written article. In quoting Hayley, that is the best explanation and fitting description of the road that Hayley has taken for her singing through the years that I have seen.
Thanks.
BobS

[gillette]

Hi,
Here is another good article on the concerts.
BobS

www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=44204

[martindn]

Hayley will be there tomorrow!

Martin D

[Libby]

Dec 15, 2014 18:24:46 GMT Bamafan said:

Here's an article on the concerts coming up this week, including a couple new snippets of an interview from Hayley:

host.madison.com/wsj/entertainment/music/new-zealand-star-hayley-westenra-warms-a-wisconsin-holiday/article_ba6cd41c-bc03-51c0-a19d-eaf541c8c618.html

-Taylor

This is the interview Kermit - I mean Frank Smith - was talking about! It says she was interviewed from LA.

Oh, and check out what it says near the beginning of the article... about fans commenting on "Hayley's website"!! Between this article and the Isthmus, they really seemed to have done some Hayley research! Or maybe the conductor is a Hayley expert! I enjoyed learning how he himself discovered Hayley.

And all concert-goers: Please be checking your e-mails! I will bring my camera anyway, but it will be very helpful to know if I'm allowed to bring it into the theatre or not.

[Richard]

Here's the Wisconsin State Journal's interview in full:

New Zealand star Hayley Westenra warms a Wisconsin holiday

19 hours ago • By Gayle Worland | Wisconsin State Journal



The first time the young international sensation Hayley Westenra performed in Madison, the grass was green, the weather was warm and huge crowds showed up to hear her sing at a 2004 Concerts on the Square with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

Ten years later, Westenra is returning to Madison to again perform with the WCO, this time at the Orpheum Theater. Her concerts, held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, mark her last two shows of the year — a fact not lost on her international fans. Some have lamented on Westenra’s website that Madison will have had the chance to hear her sing live — twice — while other parts of the world have had to go without.

“It’s been 10 years, and I’ve always wanted to bring her back to Madison,” said WCO music director Andrew Sewell. “The day she came (in 2004), the crowds on the Square swelled to beyond anything we’d had before. It was interesting — nobody knew who she was until about five weeks prior to her coming. Then we had people driving in all the way from Idaho.”

Fans describe Westenra’s light, ethereal voice as “pure” and almost heavenlike. Raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, Westenra was in her early teens when she signed her first international record deal — and her 2003 album “Pure” became the fastest international debut album in the history of the UK classical charts. Well over a dozen albums followed.

Her stardom as a crossover artist has led Westenra to perform for presidents, prime ministers, the British royal family and the audience of the 2009 World Games, to name a few.

In 2006 she joined the ensemble Celtic Women. Four years later, a hybrid rose named for her won the Rose of the Year Award.

Westenra is also heralded for her good works. For the past 11 years she’s served as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF — heading up a project to supply girls in Ghana with essential bicycles. And as vice-president of the Vera Lynn Trust, she helps programs that support children with cerebral palsy and their families.

She doesn’t take time out for singing lessons.

“I’ve been very conscious of not taking all that many singing lessons. I feel comfortable going that road because it allows me to hold on to what I feel is my unique sound, I guess,” Westenra, now 27, explained during a recent phone interview from Los Angeles.

“I find that if I go to lessons I find myself emulating my singing teacher,” she said. “I make sure I’m always singing from the heart and naturally. I got a good grounding in technique when I was younger, and I use that as a base to rest upon. I never went through music college or anything like that, because I got my record deal at age 13. I’ve just been making albums and touring and learning on the job so to speak.”

Westenra’s Orpheum shows will feature cabaret seating, with audience members both at tables and in auditorium seats. That’s a departure from the purely theater-style shows she generally does, she said.

With the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra also showcased, “It’s going to be a wonderful mixture of styles and music and mood,” said Westenra, who is now based in the United Kingdom and will be bringing her musical director with her to Madison.

“My musical style is always quite eclectic,” she said. “I make it interesting for myself, so the audience finds it interesting, too.”

The singer said she also will perform music from her 2011 album “Paradiso,” produced in collaboration with Italian film composer Ennio Morricone and his orchestra. That album was created during a “magical” time for her in Rome, she said.

Westenra’s appearance in Madison is another of the WCO’s many ventures into pops concerts, Sewell said. The orchestra is promoting the singer’s shows on a huge billboard on the Beltline — a marketing first for the WCO, he said.

Sewell, also originally from New Zealand, first heard about Westenra during a visit to his home country in 2003.

“All my family said, ‘You should get Hayley to sing with you,’” he recalled. He contacted an old friend in Christchurch who had worked with Westenra in school musicals, and who put Sewell in touch with the singer.

A year later, said the WCO music director, “We were the first orchestra in North America to have her.”

Read more: host.madison.com/entertainment/music/new-zealand-star-hayley-westenra-warms-a-wisconsin-holiday/article_ba6cd41c-bc03-51c0-a19d-eaf541c8c618.html#ixzz3M2vYHBr1

Richard

[jimg]

Hayley has announced her arrival in Madison.

Hayley Westenra ‏@hayleywestenra · 5h5 hours ago
Made it to MADISON, WISCONSIN !

[kmsmith8]

Bit late answering, but Alicia I am going to be at both concerts.

Katie

[gillette]

Hi,
On Dec 17th, should you happen to be on the forum during the flight time of Libby's first leg (Seattle to Minneapolis) enroute to Madison, you may care to take a quick look to see how she is progressing. It is about a 3 hour flight over 5 states, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. To catch her plane in flight, check the table below for the time for your time zone.

Greenwich-UK . . 6:25PM to 9:20PM
Eastern-US . . . .1:25PM to 4:20PM
Central-US . . . 12:25PM to 3:20PM
Mountain-US. . . 11:25AM to 2:20PM
Pacific-US . . . 10:25AM to 1:20PM
New Zealand 12/18 7:25AM to 10:20AM

flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA036

The second leg, Minneapolis to Madison, is just a short hop of only 37 minutes, after a 2 hour layover at Minneapolis.

flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL4937

BobS

Edited for Dec 17th scheduled times

[martindn]

Libby, you are being watched....

Martin D