MAGNIFICENT MARSALIS
DSO and Jazz at Lincoln Center to Perform Jazz Wizard's
Original Work Co-Commissioned by DSO and MSU
DETROIT (September 12, 2008) - Nine-time Grammy Award-winning jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will team up with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for a premiere of Marsalis' new piece, Two in 3, on Saturday, September 27 at 8:30 p.m. in Orchestra Hall. The piece will have another premiere three days prior, on September 24, at the Wharton Center in East Lansing where JLCO and Marsalis will perform the piece with the MSU Symphony Orchestra. The new work is a co-commission between the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, MSU's Wharton Center for Performing Arts and the MSU College of Music. The DSO performance, conducted by Resident Conductor Thomas Wilkins, will also include Bernstein's Candide Suite for Orchestra and Grieg's Suite No. 1 from Peer Gynt. Each movement in Peer Gynt will be performed twice - once by the DSO and once by JLCO as arranged by Duke Ellington - to provide the audience with juxtaposition between orchestral and jazz interpretations.
According to Marsalis, Two in 3 is a waltz written for jazz orchestra and symphony orchestra about the ups and downs; the good and bad; and the elegance and beauty of timeless love. "This is such an exciting opportunity to not only premiere a new piece, but also share the stage with the talented students of the MSU Symphony Orchestra and three days later with the world-renowned Detroit Symphony," says Marsalis. "It's guaranteed to be an inspiring evening not only for audience members, but also for the musicians on stage."
Pulitzer Prize-winning Wynton Marsalis is the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) as well as Music Director of the JLCO. He is also a world-renowned trumpeter and composer. Marsalis made his recording debut as a leader in 1982 and has since recorded more than 30 jazz and classical recordings, garnering nine Grammy Awards. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammys in the same year and repeated that feat in 1984. Marsalis is also an internationally respected teacher and spokesman for music education and has received honorary doctorates from 29 of the nation's leading academic institutions, including Columbia, Brown, Princeton and Yale. Currently, Marsalis is the DSO's Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair. Marsalis succeeds his brother Branford in this artist residency relationship with the DSO this year. As Jazz Chair, Marsalis participates in various DSO artistic and educational activities during the season.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, composed of many of today's finest jazz soloists and ensemble players, has been the JALC resident orchestra since 1988. The orchestra performs across the U.S. and around the world in concert halls, dance venues, jazz clubs, public parks, river boats, and churches. It has also collaborated with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes, students and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists. Under the leadership of Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the JLCO performs a vast repertoire spanning the history of jazz, from classic masterpieces to new commissioned works. The members of the JLCO frequently conduct educational events produced by JALC, including lectures, master classes and Jazz for Young People concerts, and they serve as mentors in the annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. The JLCO's most recent CD is Congo Square. Additional recordings include Sweet Release & Ghost Story (1999), Jump Start and Jazz (1997), Blood on the Fields (1997) and Portraits by Ellington (1992), all of which are on the Columbia Jazz label.
Thomas Wilkins comes back to the DSO this fall after a busy summer. He conducted the opening night concert at the Hollywood Bowl in June featuring a powerhouse guest star line-up of Liza Minnelli, James Galway and B.B. King followed by additional performances at the Bowl in July, August and September. Wilkins also appeared regularly with the DSO, leading the Salute to America concerts at The Henry Ford's Greenfield Village; the Target Harmony in the Metroparks performances; and two concerts at the Meadow Brook Music Festival. He will return to Detroit several times this season to lead the Home for the Holidays pops concerts; Classical Roots, an annual series celebrating the contributions of African-American composers and musicians to the classical music field; two National City Young Peoples Concerts; and the DSO's Educational Concert Series which introduce schoolchildren to the orchestra and classical music. Last year, Wilkins received the DSO's "Musical Achievement Award" at the annual Classical Roots Gala for his many contributions to Detroit and classical music. Additionally, this year is Wilkins' fourth season as Music Director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.
Leonard Bernstein's Candide Suite, arranged by Charlie Harmon, is a symphonic medley of numbers from the 1956 operetta. Harmon, the chief editor of Bernstein's estate, took his cue from the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story which was orchestrated by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal in 1961 under the composer's supervision. Like its predecessor, Candide Suite presents a succession of the show's most popular tunes as one continuous piece rather than as a series of self-contained songs. The result resembles a greatly expanded Broadway overture, thereby capturing the best of the operetta's alternately tender and rollicking soundtrack.
In January 1874, Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian pianist and composer, received an invitation to write incidental music for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. More than a decade later, in 1885, Grieg broke the full work into two separate suites in an effort to bring the music to a wider audience. The suites were subsequently performed throughout the world, showcasing Grieg's gift for creating graceful, song-like melody and bringing the composer considerable fame. In fact, the Peer Gynt Suites and Grieg's Piano Concerto have remained the most enduring and popular pieces in his repertoire. However, Grieg's work also includes songs that are little known to audiences but central to his compositional output. From the time he was 16 until two years before his death, Grieg wrote at least 170 songs based largely on Scandinavian poetry.
TICKETS for Marsalis' Motown range in price from $19 to $71 with a limited number of box seats available for $123. They may be purchased at the Max M. Fisher Music Center box office (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit); online via the DSO's web site at www.detroitsymphony.com; or by calling (313) 576-5111. For group discount information, please contact Chuck Dyer at (313) 576-5130 or cdyer@dso.org.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Buick Preferred Classical Series
Marsalis' Motown
Orchestra Hall
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Saturday, September 27 at 8:30 p.m.
BERNSTEIN Candide Suite for Orchestra
arr. HARMON
GRIEG Suite No. 1 from Peer Gynt
MARSALIS Two in 3 (Co-Commission with Michigan State University)
Additional pieces to be announced from stage
Ford ConcerTalks begin one hour prior to afternoon and evening performances in Orchestra Hall
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