The fusion of jazz and the symphony orchestra takes center stage at this spectacular concert of popular hits by Bernstein, Ellington, Milhaud and Williams. Dance was the rage in Paris in the 1920s. The conventions of classical ballet changed and demanded a new and almost savage, barbaric music. Milhaud’s music is a vibrant impression of le jazz hot he experienced from the Hotel Brunswick Orchestra and the New Orleans-flavored jazz of Harlem. Though not a jazz composer, the convergence of serious and popular music finds one of its most persuasive advocates in Milhaud’s La création du monde. Leonard Bernstein is said to have remarked that, for him, every kind of music was serious. And indeed, the legendary conductor-composer-pianist-TV lecturer experimented in every possible style, mediating between Broadway, jazz, the avant-garde and the classics. In Prelude, Fugue and Riffs – a stroke of genius that shifts between polyrhythmic structures à la Stravinsky and the strains of a big band – he tackled the tricky rhythms of Latin American music. Duke Ellington’s jazzy orchestral piece, Three Black Kings is the featured work on the program. Also on the program is a work by Michael Daugherty, Desi. Desi is a tribute to the persona of Desi Arnaz (1917-87), who played the Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo alongside his wife Lucille Ball in "I Love Lucy." Desi evokes a Latin sound punctuated by big band trumpets, trombone glissandi, and dazzling woodwind runs. The work will feature our incredible percussion section, with Brian Radock filling in on the bongos. Saxophonist George Weremchuk joins the Space Coast Symphony for a dynamic program featuring John Williams’ Escapades, a jazzy and charming piece based on the composer’s music for the hit film Catch Me If You Can.
Space Coast Symphony Jazz Orchestra
Jennifer Royals, clarinet
George Weremchuk, saxophone
Brian Radock, bongos
Gavin Pritchard, vibraphone
ELLINGTON Three Black Kings Suite
DAUGHERTY Desi
WILLIAMS Escapades from Catch Me if You Can
MILHAUD Creation du Monde
BERNSTEIN Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs
- Dates March 5, 2016
- Admission $20
- Location The Scott Center
- Address 5625 Holy Trinity Drive Melbourne, FL 32940
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