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| Sweeney Todd in Concert: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: KQED Wins First Prime-Time Emmy Award for "Sweeney Todd in Concert" Television Production |
National Broadcast of San Francisco Symphony Performance Garners Top Honors
San Francisco, California, September 16, 2002 -- In a ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Saturday evening, KQED Public Television won a prime-time Emmy Award in the creative arts category of Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program for its co-production of Sweeney Todd in Concert: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The PBS special was co-produced with Ellen M. Krass Productions and was broadcast Halloween night 2001. The creative arts categories will have a two-hour highlights telecast on E! Entertainment Television on Saturday, September 21 at 8 p.m.
"We're absolutely delighted to be honored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences," noted John Boland, KQED executive vice president and COO, who was executive-in-charge on the production. "When the Sweeney Todd opportunity was presented to us, we knew it was important to bring the San Francisco arts to a national stage and that our collaboration would be a success on a variety of levels."
The honor is KQED's first national prime-time Emmy Award, although the station did win a national Emmy last year for Community Service.
Sweeney Todd in Concert bested three other programs in the PBS-nominated category: Live from Lincoln Center "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess with the New York City Opera;" Great Performances "Joshua Bell: West Side Story Suite From Central Park;" and Live from Lincoln Center "Mostly Mozart Festival 2001 -- Mozart’s 'Requiem'."
The thrilling, bawdy and passionate musical from renowned composer Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd was performed by the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus at Davies Symphony Hall in July 2001. The performances starred Broadway legends Patti LuPone and George Hearn, and were taped over three evenings.
The official Web site for Sweeney Todd in Concert is located at pbs.org/kqed/demonbarber.
Sweeney Todd in Concert: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a co-production of KQED San Francisco and Ellen M. Krass Productions. Executive producer is Chase Mishkin; Mort Swinsky and Ellen Krass are co-executive producers; and Lonny Price is director. Danny McGuire is director of production and John Boland is executive-in-charge for KQED.
Funding for Sweeney Todd in Concert: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is provided by the Sarah P. and William R. Hambrecht Foundation, Kat Taylor and Tom Steyer, and the KQED Campaign for the Future Program Venture Fund. The San Francisco Symphony performances of Sweeney Todd were presented by the San Francisco Arts Commission/San Francisco Symphony Summer in the City series.
KQED operates KQED Public Television 9, the nation's most-watched public television station (in prime-time), and Digital Television 30, Northern California's only public television digital signal; KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM, the most listened-to public radio station in the nation; the KQED Education Network, which brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents and media professionals through workshops, seminars and resources; and kqed.org, which harnesses the power of the Internet to bring KQED to communities across the Web.
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