Symphony salute to Ella Fitzgerald

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Randall Craig Fleischer, will salute the music of Ella Fitzgerald at its pops concert Saturday at 8 p.m. at Powers Auditorium.

Tickets range from $20 to $55 and are available at the box office, by phone at 330-744-0264 and online at youngstownsymphony.com.

Joining the orchestra will be vocalists Capathia Jenkins, Aisha de Haas and Harolyn Blackwell, who will perform the hits of Fitzgerald, America’s first lady of jazz, including “A Tisket, A Tasket,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” and “How High The Moon.”

Fitzgerald, who died in 1996 at age 79, was discovered at an amateur competition in Harlem in 1934 and became one of the world’s greatest jazz singers.

Jenkins most recently starred as Medda in the Broadway musical “Newies.” Her theater credits also include “The Civil War” and “Godspell.”

She has appeared with orchestras around the work including past appearances with the YSO.

Blackwell and de Haas will be making their first appearances with the YSO. De Haas’s credits include “Road Show,” “Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me,” “Caroline or Change,” “Rent” and “Bring in De Noise, Bring in the Funk.” She has also toured with “Dreamgirls,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Blackwell’s Broadway credits include “West Side Story.” She has also performed in several productions at the Metropolitan Opera, including “Un Ballo in Mascara,” “Le Nozze de Figario,” “Die Fledermaus” and “La Fille du Regiment.