Well.

On Sunday, May 3rd, there's a show coming to the Barlow.

That is something that is right up my street anyway.

And a good Notre Dame connection.

I'm here with Robert Boardman, who is the musical at the music director and conductor of the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Rob, how are you?

I'm doing great.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, of course I spoke to you.

I think it was last year at this stage now.

Must have been when there was a queen show on.

So at this time, it's the music of Bon Jovi.

So what kind of motivated that?

Well, Wind Borne Music, which is the company that we've been collaborating with or the nation's leading symphonic rock collaborative outfit, their professional rock band, professional lead singer Brant Havens, their founder, owner, arranger.

He he's created all the he's kind of the brain of of wind borne music.

And so he agreed to collaborate with us on the music of Queen.

That was the first time he ever worked with a youth orchestra was, incidentally, also the largest orchestra that he had ever worked with because we had 95 people on stage.

Usually when Wind Borne performs with a pro orchestra, it's in the neighborhood of 50 people.

So it was really kind of a monster, and he was totally impressed at our level of preparation.

And we rocked the house with music of Queen.

And after that, it was so successful that we started a series of conversations about what might it look like if we were to do this again, but to do something different?

And it was it was just at that point where it was the end of our three year grant for our summer camp, and we were looking to renew our application for grant status through the Community Foundation to extend our summer camp for another three years at Saint Mary's College.

And so we came up with this unique initiative where we were going to partner with Wind Borne Music and also the Music Village, and start to encourage young rock artists to actually front our concert orchestra, the younger orchestra.

That initiative has been pushed off to next summer, but this is the first.

This is the first project which we are bringing something completely brand new into the world.

We we commissioned the show The Music of Bon Jovi.

This is a professional show.

This is not a kiddy concert.

This is not a recital.

This is not an interpretation of Bon Jovi's music.

People should expect a full arena rock concert experience.

We purchased 1200 pairs of earplugs for everybody who's going to show up to the center.

So yeah, we're totally going to blow the roof off the concert hall.

But the so the so really the impetus for this was, I, you know, when I was a teenager, when I was in high school, I formed my first rock band as a junior, and.

I sang, I played piano, we performed Better Roses.

There were ten rock bands, I remember, and we came in first in the auditions, and then we came in second in the actual competition.

So.

But it was as a teenager, you know, this is going to sound a little strange because I was also, you know, playing violin in the orchestra and everything, but there was some emotional synchronicity between the music of Bon Jovi and the orchestra music that I was playing because it was it was soaring, right?

It was.

It had the sort of this grand feeling about it.

If you think about Bon Jovi and the lights and the audience and the big hair and, you know, I mean, you know, being inside the concert hall, inside, you know, wherever they were performing, it still had that had that same sense of events that when I was on stage with an orchestra playing Beethoven or Sebelius or John Williams or whatever, that it had just this larger than life quality and really helped sort of orient my emotional interiority as a developing teenager and, and, you know.

Help.

Help sort of, you know, deal with life.

We all remember what it was like to be a teenager and how it can be.

Yeah.

Right, right.

Exactly.

So, I, you know, I perform probably 5 or 6 by Jovi songs through high school and college and, you know, sort of never forgot about their music.

I was just like a super fan as, like a really, like a boy and a teenager.

And so, the song that I was stuck with me from the song that I was stuck with me from them was always, I know, no pun intended.

Oh, yeah.

That's such a good song.

It's such a good song.

And unfortunately, that's not one of the songs that that's okay are performing.

Yeah, but I wanted us to.

But, you know, maybe when the show.

So I mean, what's unique about this show is this is just the launch.

This is just the first, the first of what will be many symphonic Bon Jovi rock shows.

So we're doing the world premiere.

But when Bourne music will take this show out into the world and perform it with other professional orchestras across the country.

So yeah, because I remember last year with Queen, it was they were already established and you were, you know, you were one of the venues.

But now this time, as you mentioned, you commissioned it, it's starting with you and then it's going to go to other places.

And I know there is, it's the same frontman and that's performing from last year who's a very talented guy.

And I remember talking to him on the on the show last year.

Can you tell me a little bit about him?

Sure, yeah.

MiG Aisa megastar is just such a character, such a charismatic, you know, sort of generational talent.

Anybody who was at the concert will remember him.

His voice, his persona.

He has an incredible physicality about him on stage, the way that he the way that he moves and the way that he works, the audience, he's just a really magnetic human being.

And I mean, his life is just traveling around the world singing and believe that he was the runner up to replace the singer for In Excess some years ago.

And yeah.

So I mean, yeah, and he, he, he carried a queen show that was on the West End in London called we Will Rock you was a Broadway production, and actually two of the remaining members of Queen selected him for that role.

And that, you know, just gives you an idea of how highly they thought about his voice and his ability to carry the role.

So I'm so happy that we're working with him again.

I mean, people, the members of the orchestra will remember him.

Families will remember him, people in the community.

You you want to see a real rock show?

This is this is definitely it.

Yeah.

And it's happening on Sunday, May 3rd.

It's 4:00 right in the afternoon.

Obviously not in the morning, but before in the afternoon at the DeBartolo.

What made you choose the DeBartolo.

We haven't we have a good long running, warm partnership with the folks at Deepak.

And every year we perform there at least once, sometimes twice.

It's a really special venue.

If anybody who's been in there, you know, it's it's beautiful on the inside.

We love working with their production staff.

They have they importantly, they have all of the sort of in-house sound support and tech stuff that needs to be wired up for a show.

This, this, this kind of capacity.

It's also our annual, our annual gala concert.

So there'll be like a brief fundraiser preceding the concert itself.

Nice.

And as you mentioned, yeah, you need you definitely need tech support when you have 95 musicians playing on stage, but it really sounds like it's going to be a really fun show.

And of course, you know, Bon Jovi has been to a lot of Notre Dame games.

He has family members that have gone to the college as well.

So well Jon Bon Jovi and not Bon Jovi, that's the whole band.

But yeah, so it just sounds like it's going to be a great day on Sunday, May 3rd, as I mentioned at 4:00.

So where can people get tickets for this?

Well, they can go to the DeBartolo Performing Arts website and just click on, you know, look for SB.

So Bon Jovi, you'll easily find it or, you know, just do a web search for s South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra and Bon Jovi.

You'll you'll find it immediately.

And yeah, we're going to we're going to rock the house.

This is a one night only experience.

It will not be recorded.

It will not be rebroadcast.

So if you're not there, you're going to miss it.

And before we go.

Can you tell me a little bit just about the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra and what exactly it is and is a part of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, or is it a completely separate.

We are totally independent.

We've been around for 58 years and serving Michiana.

We're a ten county youth orchestra, sort of kind of an all star youth orchestra organization for passionate, talented young musicians across the region.

Right now, we serve about 160 students and families.

And yeah, I mean, I'm glad that you asked that.

We have something else really exciting coming up will be for our summer camp, June 15th to 19th.

We're going to be giving the world premiere performance of the soundtrack to the HBO Tom Hanks produced series, John Adams episodes one and two, so we will project the episodes on a screen, and then the orchestra will perform the soundtrack perfectly with the sound and dialog for episodes one and two.

This is in part to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America.

And of course, we have auditions for students who are interested and want to join in the fall.

We have big plans.

The Lord of the rings film score is happening next year.

John Williams Clarinet Concerto, Mahler Second Symphony, which is massive.

So a lot of exciting things happening with SB, so all righty.

Well hopefully people go online, get those tickets and Sunday will be a great day.

I actually know a couple of priests and I text them earlier and said they should go, since they're always living on a prayer and they didn't appreciate my joke.

That's a true story.

I really did do that.

So.

But well, they might just say back to you, it's my life, you know?

So always.

Yeah.

So yeah, I can keep going.

If you want to do this.

But.

Well, you know, let's not give love a bad name.

You know, I think we should stop, though.

Better roses.

That might just get a bit weird, though.

All right.

Thanks so much, Rob.

Thanks, David.