Syesha Mercado, who finished in the top three on "American Idol" in 2008 and has since built a career on Broadway, doesn't count the times she sang with a small orchestra behind her on TV, or even the pit orchestra when she appeared in "Dreamgirls" and "The Book of Mormon."
Next weekend, in front of the Sarasota Orchestra, in her hometown, will be her first performance with an orchestra.
"Oh my gosh, I am thrilled, I am honored. I love singing with an orchestra even through I've never done it before," said Mercado in a telephone interview last week. "I've always imagined that it would be awesome."
Syesha Mercado / COURTESY PHOTO
Mercado will be the vocalist for the Sarasota Orchestra's "Orchestra in the Outfield" pops concert in Ed Smith Stadium on May 9, which will celebrate American idols from Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley and Stevie Wonder to a salute to the American armed forces. It will end with a fireworks display and, perhaps, a repeat of last year's dramatic over-the-outfield battle between an eagle and an osprey.
The concert will be the orchestra's second outdoor outing for the Orioles' "Arts in the Ballpark" series. Last year's concert, with rock violinist Molly Cherryholmes, was a sellout.
The orchestra will be conducted by principal pops conductor Andrew Lane, who said last year's concert was a learning opportunity. The weather was hot and humid, musicians on the sunny side of the stage appeared to be melting, and the sound mix was tricky for an orchestra used to performing in climate-controlled concert halls.
"Any time you put a big orchestra outside with a whole bunch of microphones, you're going to have challenges," said Lane. "I think we've learned from that. Everything the Sarasota Orchestra does, we always try to make it better."
Mercado's part of the program will focus on big pop songs, with orchestral arrangements of "Fever," "Skyfall," "One Rock and Roll Too Many," "I Believe" and "At Last."
"'Skyfall,' I love that song," said Mercado. "It has a really big orchestra on it. I covered it on YouTube, and it's definitely a fan favorite. Another song the creative team suggested, and I had completely forgotten about it; I did it on tour with the 'American Idol Live' tour, and it got really great reviews, 'Listen,' by Beyonce, which is a great song.
"It's a few tunes that I love and I wanted to share with the people."
Mercado has been in town for a few weeks after her stint with the touring production and then Broadway version of "The Book of Mormon," performing as part of the Sarasota Film Festival's premiere of "Newtown at 100: A Glimpse Through Our Eyes," where she sang with the Booker High School Gospel Choir.
Mercado attended Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto and is a graduate of the Visual and Performing Arts program at Booker High School. In 2008, the city of Sarasota declared May 9 to be Syesha Mercado Day.
Her appearance with the Booker gospel choir also marked her first visit at her alma mater in several years.
"Oh, and I saw 'Hairspray' when I was there," she said. "It was so good. I was so proud of them. The school seems huge. It's like a college campus to me."
Mercado and her boyfriend, RajStar, are now at work on her own music project after visiting Central America recently "to travel, live a little and enjoy, experience traveling without a rigorous schedule," she said. "I was really inspired to create music, all inspired by the slow life, the easy life."
The orchestra's Lane said the idea to build the concert around the "American Idols" theme and invite Mercado on Syesha Mercado Day "came through our marketing department, which I felt was a great idea and frankly I wouldn't have thought about it."
But the theme created opportunities to build a program that pays tribute to icons of popular music, American composers such as Aaron Copland, Olympic athletes and the Gettysburg address, which will be set to music and read by Jason Hand from the West Point Band.
CONCERT PREVIEW
ORCHESTRA IN THE OUTFIELD. Sarasota Orchestra with Andrew Lane, conductor, and Syesha Mercado, vocalist. 7:30 p.m. May 9 at Ed Smith Stadium, 2700 12th St., Sarasota. Tickets from $15; youth tickets from $5. 893-6300; www.Orioles.com\Sarasota.
