New York, NY (Top40 Charts) GRAMMY Award winning rock legends Bill Champlin and Steve Porcaro will join long time lead vocalist of
Chicago Jason Scheff and his show "Chicago Nights" at Summerfest 2023, New West Symphony's inaugural summer outdoor music festival, scheduled June 24th and 25th at (and in partnership with) Moorpark College.
Summerfest is a 2-day music event that will also feature jazz and country music on Saturday with Ilya Serov, B.
Valentine and
Blanco Brown, and World
Music headliners Renaissance Heart, Mariachi Divas and Hamed Nikpay on Sunday. The festival will conclude June 25 with a showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark featuring the New West Symphony performing John Williams' epic score live.
Bill Champlin has enjoyed a prolific six-decade career, beginning in 1961 with his first band Opposite Six. He later formed the Sons of Champlin, recording 7 albums before moving to Los Angeles where he worked as a session vocalist with Elton John, Patti LaBelle, Nancy Wilson,
George Benson and Neil Diamond, among others. He earned his first GRAMMY® in 1979 for co-writing "After the Love is Gone," recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire. In 1982 he joined Chicago, where his unique and expressive voice can be heard on "Hard Habit to Break," and in 1983 he earned a second GRAMMY® for cowriting "Turn Your Love Around," recorded by
George Benson. A multi-talented vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist, Bill continues to perform and tour globally.
Highly-acclaimed songwriter/keyboardist Steve Porcaro was a founding member of platinum-selling rock band Toto where in 1983 he earned three GRAMMY® Awards for Best Record ("Rosanna"), Best Album ("Toto IV") and Producer of the Year. A much-in-demand session musician, he also co-wrote "
Human Nature" on Michael Jackson's legendary "
Thriller" album and later composed the music for film and television, including FX's "Justified." Steve's synthesizer wizardry is heard not only on Toto's recordings (notably "Rosanna"), but on those of other artists, notably the Jackson-Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine." In 2016 he released his first-ever solo album, "Someday/Somehow," featuring Michael McDonald, Marc Bonilla and Steve Lukather among others.
At SummerFest 2023, Bill Champlin will perform on Saturday, June 24 with former
Chicago bandmate Jason Scheff in "Chicago Nights," playing the mega-hits of
Chicago and accompanied by New West Symphony, while Steve Porcaro will join Jason's band for some fan favorites of Toto. Two legendary surprise guests will also participate in this rock legends performance.
"I am thrilled to have been asked to kick off the inaugural Summerfest at Moorpark College," said Scheff, a Moorpark resident who will be inducted into the California
Music Hall of Fame in
September 2023. "Having performed numerous symphony shows with Chicago, this feels like familiar territory, and the enhanced orchestral instrumentation is the ultimate experience with this music," Scheff continued. "What I love most is that I will be performing in my own backyard! As a resident of Moorpark, I am honored as a member of the community to be part of building the future for this significant venue and annual music festival."
"We couldn't be more thrilled to add these amazing and iconic artists to our already exciting roster of performers for Summerfest," said
Natalia Staneva, New West Symphony CEO. "Bill Champlin and Steve Porcaro are legendary in the music industry. And our world music artists are part of the rich cultural fabric in Southern California that we love to present. Summerfest offers two days of GRAMMY®Award-winning talent performing in their peak element. They are the best of the best."
Summerfest Saturday: Jazz, country and more
The June 24 program begins with award-winning jazz trumpeter/singer/guitarist Ilya Serov and his band. Also slated on June 24 is country music sensation
Blanco Brown who has blurred the lines between country and hip-hop music by creating southern sound that he proudly calls "TrailerTrap."
This boundary-breaking, multicolored genre draws upon the rawness and storytelling abilities of Blanco's biggest musical influences,
Johnny Cash and Outkast. The world was introduced to this exciting fusion with Blanco's worldwide platinum-certified hit "The Git Up," which spawned nearly 3 billion views across social platforms, reached the top of the viral Spotify charts in several countries, hung tight as the top most-selling country song in the US for 13 weeks and claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart for 12 weeks.
Summerfest Sunday: World Music
On June 25, Summerfest presents a "World Music" program opening with GRAMMY® Award-winning Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea, an all-female mariachi band based in Los Angeles. Founded by Cindy Shea, they were the first all-female mariachi band ever to be nominated for and win a Grammy, earning the Best Regional Mexican Album trophy in 2009 for "Canciones de Amor."
Renaissance
Heart is the new global music project that merges the artistry of two-time GRAMMY®-winning vocalist Hila Pitman, L.A. session ace guitar chameleon Shea Welsh, and world renowned tabla master Aditya Kalyanpur. They create organic, re-imagined connections between classical, jazz, folk, rock, and world music genres.
Hamed Nikpay, Iranian fusion vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, has been a pioneering artist for over two decades, whose music extends beyond its time and transcends all musical boundaries. He stealthily and artfully imbues classical Persian melodies with beats and sounds of other complementing genres, and intertwines his music with lyrics he chooses from the vast body of Ancient and contemporary Persian poets to create what he calls "Soufi Funk."
Concluding Sunday's program, New West Symphony will perform live to the original 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. While the film an all-time action/adventure classic, it is hard to imagine watching
Indiana Jones' escapades without the timeless and instantaneously recognizable score.
SUMMERFEST 2023:
Ticket prices start at $50. Student tickets are $25; children under 13 are $20. Information: 866.776.8400 or https://newwestsymphony.org/summerfest
