“Disney's Beauty & the Beast in Concert" at the Adler Theatre -- May 13.
Saturday, May 13, 2 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
On May 13, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra invites family audiences to “Be Our Guest!” and experience an animated Disney classic like never before, with the ensemble and conductor Ernesto Estigarribia proudly presenting Disney's Beauty & the Beast in Concert, the Oscar-winning masterpiece enjoying a big-screen showing at Davenport's Adler Theatre alongside live accompaniment by the ensemble's thrilling musical talents.
First released in 1991, Disney's Beauty & the Beast focuses on the relationship between the Beast (voiced by Robby Benson), a prince who is magically transformed into a monster as punishment for his arrogance, and Belle (Paige O'Hara), a young woman whom he imprisons in his castle in exchange for her father. To break the curse, the Beast must learn to love Belle and earn her love in return before the last petal falls from an enchanted rose or else he will remain a monster forever.
Over the course of its run, Beauty & the Beast grossed $331 million at the box office worldwide on a $25 million budget and received widespread critical acclaim for its romantic narrative, animation, characters, and musical numbers. The movie won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the first animated film to ever win that category, and also became the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards, where it won Oscars for Alan Menken's Best Original Score and Best Original Song for its title tune. In April of 1994, Beauty & the Beast also became Disney's first animated film to be adapted into a Broadway musical, and the smash-hit production ran through 2007 with its beloved songs including "Be Our Guest," “Belle,” “Something There,” “Gaston,” and the unforgettable title track.
Hailed for his “expert direction” by Fanfare magazine, Disney's Beauty & the Beast in Concert's Paraguayan conductor Ernesto Estigarribia is the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) Associate Conductor and Quad City Symphony Youth Ensembles (QCSYE) Music Director. This will be one of Estigarribia's final public appearances with the QCSO, as he recently announced that, after four years, he would step down from his positions at the end of July to serve on faculty at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He has previously served as Music Director of Buffalo Community Orchestra and Southeastern Minnesota Youth Orchestras, and having a passion for working with young musicians, he is also member of the conducting staff of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies. Estigarribia has conducted the Mankato Symphony, Rochester Symphony, Oskaloosa Music Festival Orchestra, Argentina's Orquesta del Centro del Conocimiento, and his home country's Orquesta Sinfónica del Congreso Nacional, where he was the first Paraguayan guest conductor to appear in the International series.
In 2016, Estigarribia conducted the premiere recording of the “Concertino for Viola” by Brazilian composer João Ripper with violist Korey Konkol and the University of Minnesota Camerata, and beyond his symphonic performances, the conductor has led numerous opera productions including Gianni Schicchi, Idomeneo, and Albert Herring. Estigarribia's festival appearances, meanwhile, include Brazil's Festival de Música de Santa Catarina, Italy's Pienza Music Festival, Russia's International Festival Week of St. Petersburg Conservatory, and Chile's Academia Internacional Teatro del Lago, and the musical artist holds degrees from Pittsburg State University and the University of Minnesota, where he studied conducting with the QCSO's full-time conductor Mark Russell Smith.
Disney's Breauty & the Beast in Concert will be performed at Davenport's Adler Theatre on May 13, admission to the 2 p.m. concert-and-movie event is $20-61, and more information and tickets are available by contacting the Quad City Symphony Orchestra at (563)322-0931 and visiting QCSO.org.
