This first-ever panel discussion of theatre orchestration will feature award-winning orchestrators Sid Ramin (West Side Story, Gypsy) and Jonathan Tunick (Follies, Sweeney Todd). They will be joined by Donald Pippin (Oliver!, La Cage aux Folles), Elliot Lawrence (Bye Bye Birdie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), John Morris (Bye Bye Birdie, Mack & Mabel), Rob Fisher (Chicago City Center Encores!), Larry Blank (The Drowsy Chaperone, Irving Berlin's White Christmas), Marion Evans (House of Flowers, Mr. Wonderful), Ted Sperling (Light in the Piazza, South Pacific), Russell Warner (Very Good Eddie, Whoopee!) and Red Press (Gypsy, Chicago).

Playbill.com columnist Steven Suskin, author of "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestators and Orchestrations," will serve as moderator along with theatre historian Robert Kimball.

The Symposium, which will be held in the Coolidge Auditorium on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, will begin on May 6 at 10 AM with an introductory discussion of orchestration followed by an interview with Sid Ramin.

Following a lunch break, the afternoon session will begin at 1:30 PM with a discussion of great Broadway orchestrators (including Robert Russell Bennett, Don Walker, Philip J. Lang, Red Ginzler, Irwin Kostal, Hershy Kay and Ralph Burns) by people who knew and worked with them. This will be followed at 5 PM by a conversation with Jonathan Tunick. The day will end at approximately 6:30 PM.

Thursday's activities will begin at 10 AM with "The Song: From Piano Bench to Stage." Following the lunch break, the afternoon session will be a general discussion with the panelists, with Q&A (time permitting). The Symposium will end at 5 PM. The Coolidge Auditorium is on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, DC. Tickets are not required.

The program is being presented under the auspices of the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trust for the benefit of the Library of Congress.