Mannheim Steamroller Launches 25th Anniversary Tour, Hits TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall 11/21

This holiday season, Mannheim Steamroller will celebrate a quarter-century of being America's favorite Christmas music artist with a 58-city, 25th Christmas Anniversary Tour of their spectacular and beloved holiday show. The group will perform live for one night only in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall on Saturday, November 21, as part of the TPAC Presents series.

For the second year, Grammy Award® winner and mastermind behind the group, Chip Davis will direct and co-produce both the East Coast and West Coast tour ensembles of Mannheim Steamroller. Launching on November 12, 2009, the shows will feature the favorite Christmas music of Mannheim Steamroller along with state-of-the-art multimedia effects in an intimate setting.
In 1984, exactly 25 years ago to date, Mannheim Steamroller releasEd Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, an album that changed the entire music industry. Already a multi-platinum recording artist through its Fresh Aire series, founder Chip Davis decided to record an album of Christmas music combining the group's signature mix of renaissance instruments with rock & roll beats. The resulting album was a runaway hit and not only propellEd Mannheim Steamroller to become the biggest selling Christmas music artist in history, but also one of the top 50 biggest selling musical acts ever (they've sold over 35 million albums). The group's annual Christmas tour, also celebrating its 25th anniversary, has become a tradition right along with decorating the tree, exchanging presents and spending time with friends and family.

"It's especially exciting to ring in the holiday season with a group like Mannheim Steamroller," said Kathleen O'Brien, TPAC's president and CEO. "After 25 years of Christmas tours, the name has become synonymous with the season. The multi-media show known for its special effects and groundbreaking musical styles will sound spectacular in Jackson Hall. Audiences will undoubtedly leave mesmerized by the sights and sounds of the holidays that only Mannheim Steamroller can deliver."
In addition to this year's tour, the group will release a retrospective 2-CD set, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas - 25th Anniversary Collection, featuring 25 of the group's famous holiday classics. Spanning the group's entire Christmas catalog, the album includes "Joy to the World," "The First Noel," "Winter Wonderland" as well as "The Christmas Song" featuring guest vocalist Johnny Mathis. Other guest performers include Paul Winter, The Cambridge Singers and members of The Chicago Symphony and The Omaha Symphony.

While Mannheim Steamroller is known worldwide, the story of founder Chip Davis is a true-life tale of a modern day "Renaissance Man." From founding his own record label (American Gramaphone has been ranked by Billboard as the #1 independent label), to creating the Mannheim Steamroller "lifestyle" (sales of the group's products were estimated to be $70 million a year by Time Magazine), to his current work with NASA and major medical institutions such as Mayo Clinic (Chip has invented a cutting edge psychoacoustic technology that is being used in hospitals and studied by NASA for potential use in space), his accomplishments are extraordinary.
Tickets to Mannheim Steamroller range from $30-70, depending upon seat locations. For tickets, visit www.tpac.org, call 615/782-4040, or visit the TPAC Box Office (Downtown or at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in The Mall at Green Hills).

This performance of Mannheim Steamroller is part of the TPAC Presents series. Institutional sponsors for TPAC include American Airlines and Coca-Cola. Nissan North America, Inc. is a Sustaining Partner for TPAC.

The Tennessee Performing Arts Center is a private, non-profit corporation dedicated to providing and supporting the presentation of the performing arts to the citizens of Tennessee. Its four stages are home to Broadway in Nashville at TPAC, Nashville Ballet, Nashville Opera, Tennessee Repertory Theatre and a variety of special engagements. TPAC administers one of the largest and most comprehensive arts-in-education programs in the United States, offering learning opportunities for children and adults. The organization has served more than 1.5 million students from pre-school to high school over the past two decades. For more information, visit the web site, www.tpac.org.

Magic Arts & Entertainment, headed by Lee D. Marshall and Joe Marsh, is one of the foremost tour producing companies in the United States and is co-producing the Mannheim Steamroller tour with Chip Davis. As former owners of Magicworks Entertainment, Marshall and Marsh produced and promoted some of the world's most successful concerts, theatricals and family shows. In addition to The Christmas Music of Mannheim Steamroller by Chip Davis, the company is currently producing the North American tours of "The 101 Dalmatians Musical," "The Magic of David Copperfield," "Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance," "Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles," "Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ted Neeley" and "Jim Brickman: Beautiful World." In 2008, Magic Arts & Entertainment was acquired by the Tix Corporation (stock symbol TIXC), with Marshall and Marsh assuming the roles of Co-CEO of Tix Productions, a newly formed subsidiary of Tix Corporation. Magic Arts & Entertainment has offices in Cleveland, OH and Salt Lake City, UT.

Mannheim Steamroller is the #1-selling Christmas artist of all time and one of the top fifty best-selling artists of the last two decades, outselling prominent artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Sting, REM, Barbra Streisand and Bon Jovi. Composer and creator Chip Davis startEd Mannheim Steamroller more than 30 years ago with his Grammy Award-winning Fresh Aire series. With more than 35 million albums sold, an annual Christmas tour that is consistently ranked as the best selling of any artist, a successful Mannheim Steamroller gourmet food line, and a new medical endeavor helping hospital patients recover quicker through audio technology (Ambience Medical), Chip Davis is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the music industry. For more information, please log onto www.mannheimsteamroller.com.