RTÉ One

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony with the RTE Concert Orchestra

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• published: 08 Oct 2010
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Here's an interview with George Daugherty, conductor and creator of Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. Bugs Bunny at the Symphony will have its European premiere on Friday 8 October 2010 at the Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin http://www.rte.ie/performinggroups/2010/1008/cobbatsfri.html Press release: The RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Warner Bros. present the European premiere of Bugs Bunny at the Symphony at the Grand Canal Theatre on Friday 8 October, 8pm and Saturday 9 October, 2.30pm & 8pm The RTÉ Concert Orchestra is going Looney once again in October with the European premiere of Warner Bros. Studios' Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. The orchestra's Bugs Bunny on Broadway concerts last year were such a runaway popular success that Irish audiences now have the honour of being the first in Europe to see the newly created sequel, with two evening performances and a Saturday matinee. Join Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Tweety and Sylvester, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones for a feast of vintage cartoons on the big screen with the original film scores performed live in perfect synchronisation by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Emmy Award-winning conductor George Daugherty. Unmissable entertainment whatever your age. This sequel marks the 20th anniversary of the original smash hit Bugs Bunny on Broadway, which has to date been seen by almost two million people worldwide. The new concert features a number of Bugs Bunny on Broadway's most show-stopping cartoons, including Chuck Jones' brilliant What's Opera, Doc? and The Rabbit of Seville -- two Looney Tunes classics that top virtually every published list of 'The World's Funniest Cartoons' anywhere. The wealth of new material includes the debut of Tweety and Sylvester with Home Tweet Home, and a specially created montage of Looney Tunes in song, including Pepe Le Pew in A Scent of the Matterhorn. A number of other animated stars from the extended Warner Bros. cartoon family will also pay tribute to Bugs Bunny's stellar musical career -- including Tom and Jerry in the celebrated Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl and spectacular new musical montages starring The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and other stars from the world of Hanna-Barbera. The film scores feature masterpieces by Wagner, Rossini, Johann Strauss and others as interpreted by legendary Warner Bros. Studios composers Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn. Last year's Bugs Bunny on Broadway concerts brought the house down, with these online comments giving a flavour of the response: 'fabulous fun. Sincerely one of the highlights of my year. Just fantastic'... 'Great audience reaction to this concert, the cartoons and especially the RTÉ Concert Orchestra's playing. They're fantastic'... 'Full house. So so much fun...' 'cool! Great music and great cartoons. No better way to introduce children to classical (and the big kids too!)' Conductor George Daugherty, the inspiration behind these live performances, has Donegal and Dublin roots, counting among his forebears two great-uncles who died in the Easter Rising. The idea of creating this unusual combination of cartoons and classics came to him in the late 1980s while he was watching masterpieces like What's Opera, Doc? and The Rabbit of Seville for the first time since his childhood. He realised the musical genius that lay behind them and wanted to perform them live. As he says, these cartoons are in a class of their own, so reconstructing and restoring this material, and performing it for cheering audiences, has been the project and the opportunity of a lifetime. Daugherty's 30-year conducting career has also included appearances with some of the world's leading orchestras, ballet companies, opera houses and concert artists. Daugherty is also an Emmy award-winning, five-time Emmy-nominated creator whose professional profile includes major credits as a director, writer and producer for television, film, innovative and unique concerts and theatre. In addition to being the conductor, he produces the concert in partnership with David Lik Wong, also a multiple Emmy winner and nominee. LOONEY TUNES and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. THE FLINTSTONES, SCOOBY-DOO and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Hanna-Barbera. TOM AND JERRY and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Turner Entertainment Co. (s10)