ANNUAL OPENING NIGHT CONCERT BENEFITS MUSIC MATTERS, THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC'S MUSIC EDUCATION PROGRAMS

BLUE MAN GROUP PERFORMS FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A FULL ORCHESTRA AS SINGER JUBILANT SYKES JOINS SANTANA ON STAGE FOR "NOVUS" AND ACTOR JOHN C. REILLY SINGS WITH THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL ORCHESTRA

Summer officially begins Friday, June 23 at 8:30 p.m. as Director John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra kick off this season with Opening Night at the Hollywood Bowl. The benefit concert for Music Matters, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music education programs, features the Seventh Annual Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame was established to identify and pay tribute to artists whose unique achievements embody the spirit of the world-renowned Hollywood Bowl - this year's honorees, guitarist Carlos Santana and pianist André Watts, personify legends in their artistic fields.

The concert highlights the honorees' performances with the Orchestra along with Oscar-nominated actor John C. Reilly and a Hollywood Bowl debut by Blue Man Group, whose appearance is its very first with a full symphony. Reilly sings "Lullaby In Ragtime" - the same song he recorded for the "Unexpected Dreams - Songs from the Stars" album released earlier this year to benefit Music Matters.

Soulful baritone Jubilant Sykes joins Santana and his band on stage during their collaboration "Novus" during the tribute to the Grammy winning Mexican native. Pianist André Watts performs the melodious third movement of Rachmaninoff's revered Piano Concerto No. 2 during the first half of the evening's program. Video montages of each honoree are shown on the venue's four large screens, showcasing the artists' professional and personal achievements. The special celebration concludes with a spectacular fireworks display. Additional guests and performers to be announced.

The "Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame" was conceived on behalf of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association by Wayne Baruch and Charles F. Gayton, Executive Producers, writer and director respectively of the June 23 concert.

The annual benefit includes a VIP pre-concert reception and gourmet dinner in the Bowl's iconic boxes and helps fund Music Matters, which serves more than 120,000 young people every year. The Helford Family is this year's Premier Patron of Opening Night at the Hollywood Bowl and Wells Fargo generously underwrites the pre-concert reception. The Opening Night at the Hollywood Bowl Committee is chaired by Paige and David P. Glickman with Vice Chairs David and Lena Adishian. Tickets for the benefit and concert ($500 - $1,250), include a pre-concert reception and dinner beginning at 5:30 p.m. Call 213.972.3051 for details.

Continuing the Bowl's tradition of honoring dedicated music teachers, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is partnering with Fidelity Investments to celebrate music teachers who are making a profound impact on children through music education programs. Students in grades K through 12 throughout the Los Angeles-area can nominate a teacher by participating in the 'Fidelity Investments Inspire the Future' essay contest explaining how their teacher is inspiring them by making music matter. The selected music teachers are honored during the concert and receive a special 'Fidelity Investments Inspire the Future' Award autographed by John Mauceri. In addition, each music teacher's school is granted a $2,500 donation from Fidelity Investments to support their music education program.

Mr. Cory Olariu, music director at Downey High School - a Los Angeles Philharmonic School Partner for the past four years - has been pre-selected as one of the 'Inspire the Future' Award recipients for his dedication and commitment to reviving their music program, resulting in a significant increase in resources and student participation. In special recognition, the Downey High School Jazz Band performs as part of the Opening Night program and receives a gift of $5,000 from Fidelity Investments to purchase new musical instruments.

Tickets for the concert only ($15 - $98), which begins at 8:30 p.m., are on sale at the Hollywood Bowl box office, online at HollywoodBowl.com, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino, and selected Wherehouse locations), and by credit card phone order at 323.850.2000.

Santana and Watts join the distinguished company of past inductees John Williams, Garth Brooks, Marilyn Horne, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, John Raitt, Monty Python, Kathleen Battle, Randy Newman, Bernadette

Peters, Leopold Stokowski, George Harrison, the Smothers Brothers, Roger Daltrey, Patti LuPone, Nathan Lane, Henry Mancini, Sarah Chang, Brian Wilson, Trisha Yearwood, Joshua Bell, and Frank Sinatra who were previously inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Drawn from the diverse arena of musical entertainment, including classical, pop, jazz, musical theatre, film composition, and dance, Hall of Fame honorees receive their tributes each summer as part of the Bowl's annual opening night celebration.

JOHN MAUCERI's accomplishments extend nationally and internationally, not only to the world's greatest opera companies and symphony orchestras, but also to the musical stages of Broadway and Hollywood, before large television and radio audiences, and in recording studios and major publications. Mauceri has received substantial recognition for his work as one of the principal forces behind the movement to preserve two of America's great art forms, the American musical and music for the American cinema. He is equally at home conducting artists ranging from Plácido Domingo (during a live broadcast of the Grammy Awards) to Madonna (with whom he recorded the soundtrack to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita), from Garth Brooks (an inaugural inductee into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame) to the Smashing Pumpkins (for the 1996 MTV Music Awards). Carol Burnett, Chicago, John Denver, Rodney Gilfry, Jonathan Pryce, Jane Eaglen, Jennifer Larmore, Patrick Stewart, Tito Puente, Charlotte Church, and Trisha Yearwood are among the multitude of artists who have performed with Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra have presented an astonishing number of premieres, and during his year tenure, opera and ballet along with the staging of Broadway musicals returned to the Bowl's stage. In addition to his Hollywood Bowl position as Director, Mauceri was recently elected as Chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts and has served as music director for the Pittsburgh Opera since June 2000. The 2006 Hollywood Bowl season marks Mauceri's 16th year and final season with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, which was created for him by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1991.

Best known the world over for the group that bears his name, CARLOS SANTANA has been reinventing and reshaping the landscape of the known universe's musical culture for four decades. A visionary artist with no regards for genre boundaries, Carlos' fluid sound long ago laid claim to the concept of "world music" before the term ever surfaced on pop culture radar. Having evolved and expanded for over four decades, the "Carlos" sound could well be on its way to becoming interplanetary music. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Santana has sold more than 90 million records, and performed to over 100 million people globally. He has won eleven GRAMMY® Awards, including a record tying nine for a single project for his 36th album, the blockbuster 1999 disc Supernatural. And with every award, every achievement, every accolade---Carlos Santana has handled his success with humility, generosity, and grace, hallmarks of his character both as a private individual and as a world citizen. Less publicized, but equally as profound as his artistic legacy, is Santana's long history of social activism and contributions time and funds to humanitarian causes. As a culmination of his decades of support for countless charities and non-profit agencies the world over, he and his wife of 30+ years, Deborah Santana, founded their Milagro Foundation in 1998. With over $2 million in grants to date, Milagro supports organizations promoting the welfare of underserved children in the areas of health, education, and the arts. Into his fourth decade of recording and performing, Santana is at the pinnacle of his career, more vital and relevant than ever. His signature sound-fusing rock, jazz, blues, soul, Latin idioms, multi-cultural genres and more-is as unique as it is instantly identifiable. With his lifetime of music and achievement, Santana has become a cultural event-- transcending genre, crossing cultures--creating the music that has become the soundtrack for the world.

ANDRÉ WATTS burst upon the music world at the age of 16 when Leonard Bernstein chose him to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic in their Young People's Concerts, broadcast nationwide on CBS-TV. Only two weeks later, Bernstein asked him to substitute at the last minute for the ailing Glenn Gould in performances of Liszt's E-flat Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, thus launching his career in storybook fashion. More than 45 years later, Watts remains one of today's most celebrated and beloved superstars. His performances each year with the world's great orchestras and conductors and his sold-out recitals and appearances at the most prestigious international festivals bring him to every corner of the globe. In addition to his regular visits to the major summer music festivals including Ravinia, Tanglewood, Saratoga, the Mann Music Center, Mostly Mozart and the Hollywood Bowl, Andre Watts' recent engagements include appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas, National, St. Louis, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Seattle symphonies; a tour with the Israel Philharmonic with performances in Boston, Chicago and Atlanta; a Carnegie Hall appearance with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; a European tour with the Baltimore Symphony; and an appearance at the Proms in London. Mr. Watt's numerous recordings can be found on the Telarc and Angel/EMI lables. He is also included in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century series for Philips and has numerous recording on the SONY Classical label. A much-honored artist who has played before royalty in Europe and heads of government in nations all over the world, André Watts was selected to receive the Avery Fisher Prize in 1988. Previously an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Maryland, Mr. Watts was appointed to the newly created Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at Indiana University in May 2004.

BLUE MAN GROUP is best known for their wildly popular theatrical shows and concerts which combine music, comedy and multimedia theatrics to produce a totally unique form of entertainment. The blissful party atmosphere created at their live events has become the trademark of a Blue Man Group experience. Currently, their live stage shows can be seen in New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin, Toronto and nightly at The Venetian® in Las Vegas. The company applies its unique creative process to a wide variety of projects, including film and TV scoring (most recently the animated feature Robots), commercial campaigns (such as Intel), and television programs (like the recurring storyline in "Arrested Development"). As the company grows, it remains true to its vision of providing exciting experiences in a variety of medium, which appeal to a broad range of age groups and cultural backgrounds. For more performance dates and ticket information, visit www.blueman.com.

JOHN C. REILLY received Oscartm and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor for his standout performance as Amos Hart in the Academy Award®-winning film, "Chicago." Additionally, he was named Best Supporting Actor by the Las Vegas Film Critics, and nominated by the Chicago Film Critics in the same category. The same year, Reilly starred in two other Academy Award®-nominated films, Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York," and Stephen Daldry's "The Hours," making it the first time that a single actor was involved in three of the five films in this prestigious category. This summer, Reilly stars in Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion" alongside an incredible cast including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and Woody Harrelson. In August, Reilly joins Will Ferrell in Columbia Pictures' comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Bobby Ricky." Set in the world of NASCAR racing, Reilly and Ferrell play childhood friends-turned-fearless racing duo that are challenged by a French Formula One racer. His credits also include Dark Water, Anger Management, The Aviator, Criminal, The Good Girl (a role which garnered him an IFP Spirit Award nomination), among many others. Reilly returned to his theater roots in April 2005 where he starred in the Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' classic "A Streetcar Named Desire." In 2000, Reilly starred in Sam Shepard's Tony Award-nominated Broadway production "True West," starring opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in a tale of two brothers engaged in an intense psychological battle, garnering a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor.

JUBILANT SYKES, the critically acclaimed artist lauded in the Wall Street Journal as one of "the next major stars," brings a new dimension to the traditional career of the classically trained baritone by drawing on gospel and jazz influences. Jubilant has won the attention and respect of the world's finest conductors, symphonies and opera companies including Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and hundreds of other major venues around the world. The California-born Sykes brings "mesmerizing conviction and remarkable agility of both character and technique" (The Los Angeles Times) to a wide-ranging repertoire. The 2005-2006 season is indicative of Sykes' versatility. Sykes will continue his long and artistically dynamic relationship with guitarist Christopher Parkening, as they tour the United States, Japan and Korea. Mr. Sykes and Mr. Parkening will collaborate on their much anticipated recording of American and Brazilian music. Sykes' latest endeavor is performing in concert with his jazz trio Side Street. His concert repertoire this season includes classical, jazz and folks songs which creates a diverse program for his audiences.

The Hollywood Bowl gratefully acknowledges the generous support of their Opening Night corporate sponsors: Wells Fargo; Goodyear Tire and Rubber; Pasadena Showcase for the Arts; Patina Group; Tiffany & Co.; Mirassou Wines; Pepsi-Cola; Opening Night at the Hollywood Bowl Committee Chairs Paige and David P. Glickman; Vice Chairs David and Lena Adishian, and our Premier Patrons, The Helford Family. Media sponsors are KABC 7 and the Los Angeles Times.

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