Gladys Knight to Perform with Pacific Symphony, 4/18-20

Related: Gladys Knight, Pacific Symphony

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Eight-time Grammy winner and film/television sensation Gladys Knight and her famous soulful voice perform for the first time with Pacific Symphony during the orchestra's next Pops concert. For this concert, she'll be singing favorites such as "Midnight Train to Georgia," "Every Beat of My Heart," her James Bond single "License to Kill" and "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," all backed by the lush sounds of the full symphony orchestra.

Having recorded more than 38 albums and enjoyed No. 1 hits on the pop, R&B and adult contemporary charts, Knight enchants audiences with four generations of music-from her Motown days with Gladys Knight & The Pips to her four solo records. In addition to being recognized in multiple halls of fame, Knight has been a guest judge and performer on "American Idol" and a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars"; she has appeared in the Tyler Perry film, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" and opened the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City with "This is Our Time."

Knight appears with the Symphony on April 18-20, at 8 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Tickets are $25-160; for more information or to purchase tickets call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

Led by Maestra Eímear Noone-an ingenious conductor and composer with an immense passion for conducting music from all genres, including video game scores-the concert's first half features Russell Brower's "Leah" from Blizzard Entertainment's "Diablo III," which she originally recorded with Pacific Symphony for the game's highly successful release in 2012; also, Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Hoe Down" from "Rodeo"; Bernstein's Overture to "Candide"; and Debussy's haunting "Claire de Lune." Then, the orchestra rocks out to an arrangement of AC/DC's music by Emmy-nominated composer Craig Stuart Garfinkle, called "Back in Symphonic Black."

"Ms. Knight fully embodies her title of 'The Empress of Soul,' and it is a great honor to be invited to share a stage with her," says Noone, who leads the orchestra during Knight's performance. "Hers is a voice of the people. It belongs to us all. It puts sound to our deepest longings and heartaches, joys and great loves. She gives everything to her people on stage, a completely selfless and vulnerable passion in her performance and then, of course, there's the soul... Only a true, fearless artist can perform with such soul."

The star vocalist of the evening, Knight, began singing gospel music in the Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Georgia at age 4. Three years later, she won the grand prize on the television show, "Ted Mack's Amateur Hour," and the following year, she joined what would eventually become Gladys Knight & The Pips. In 1995, Knight earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1996, Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a year later, they were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. Knight received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual BET Awards in 2004. Last year, she ended a critically acclaimed four-year run performing nightly at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, which was hailed "the number-one show on the Strip" by the Las Vegas Review Journal.

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