A cappella music, through some miracle of smooth vocal harmonies and Pitch Perfect popularity, has become about as American as apple pie. It seems like every awards show and televised concert in the past year has aired a commercial that ends with "...and a special medley by Pentatonix." So surprise: Guess who's playing the Bowl next year for the 4th of July?
Pentatonix, the popular five-piece a cappella group, will headline the Hollywood Bowl's annual July 4th Fireworks Spectacular in 2017. The ensemble will join Thomas Wilkins and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra—who, to the best of our knowledge, will be sticking to strings and not beatboxing—for three nights of performances (July 2-4), each capped off by a fireworks finale.
Ticket sales for the concert are still a ways off. Subscription renewals begin this week, with new subscriptions—in which you can pick up tickets for an entire themed series of concerts—set to go on sale February 14, 2017. Single show tickets won't be available until May 7, 2017.
The L.A. Phil also teased a couple of other shows in its 2017 season. A number of favorites will return next year, beginning with opening night (June 17) and continuing with Sing-A-Long Sound of Music (June 24), Smooth Summer Jazz (Aug 20) and Movie Night (Sep 3). Highlights of the classical concert series include a live score to Singin' in the Rain, a performance of Bach's suites for solo cello by Yo-Yo Ma and a collaboration between L.A. Phil director and conductor Gustavo Dudamel and tenor Juan Diego Flórez.
The rest of the Hollywood Bowl's 2017 schedule will be announced in February. Until then, here's a video of Pentatonix wearing contact lenses and shiny sunglasses as they make some noises that sound like Daft Punk.
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