orchestra21

Back in February I led the WCFSO in one of the most unforgettable evenings of art and music I’ve ever been a part of. Tonight that jazz- and blues-inspired concert, featuring music by William Grant Still, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and J Dilla, will stream in its entirety on Iowa Public Radio [8pm EST, link is an mp3 stream]. In addition to featuring some unique programming, our performance continued a ground-breaking partnership with illustrator Gary Kelley [whose work for the show is pictured below and at my Flickr].

More photos, info about Dilla’s symphonic debut, and a download of our performance of the 1920s theater-orchestra version of Rhapsody in Blue are here.

Broadcast – My January 10, 2009 concert with WCFSO principals Randy Grabowski, Chris Buckholz, Eric Wachmann, Greg Morton, Michael Pawlak, Hunter Capoccioni and guest Eric Kline will air on Iowa Public Radio’s Symphonies of Iowa series Monday evening at 8:00 pm. [As always, time given is local.] If you are outside of the area listen via IPR’s mp3 stream or search for ‘iowa public radio classical’ on your internet radio service.

If you can’t tune in for the broadcast, listen to a movement of Wynton Marsalis’ The Fiddler’s Tale here.

Broadcast – My October 4, 2008 concert with the WCFSO featuring pianist Simone Dinnerstein will air on Iowa Public Radio’s Symphonies of Iowa series tonight at 8:00 pm. [As always, time given is local.] If you are outside of the area listen via IPR’s mp3 stream or search for ‘iowa public radio classical’ on your internet radio service.

If you missed the broadcast you can listen to the concert opener – Bernstein’s Candide Overture – here.

Broadcast – My May 10, 2008 concert with the WCFSO featuring composers Michael Gilbertson, Jonathan Chenette, Jeremy Beck, Brooke Joyce and Jerry Owen will air on Iowa Public Radio’s Symphonies of Iowa series Saturday morning, June 26 at 9:30 am CST.

Broadcast – My October 6, 2007 concert with Matt Haimovitz and the WCFSO will be featured on Iowa Public Radio’s Symphonies of Iowa series tonight at 8:00 pm and Thursday, April 17 at the same time. [As always, time given is local.]

Broadcast – My November 3, 2007 concert with the WCFSO will be featured on Iowa Public Radio’s Symphonies of Iowa series this Saturday morning at 10:00 am. [As always, time given is local.] This event featured a major commission from visual artist Gary Kelley, who created a series of evocative paintings and works on paper that were filmed by Scott Smith and presented alongside our performance of the Planets.

Here we are rehearsing Neptune the Mystic with Gary’s imagery. Lining everything up was not an easy task since Scott’s video piece involved constant motion in addition to edits and pans cued to the music. But the result was thrilling – read the review here. We are continuing work on this project and hope to make it available to orchestras nationwide in the future.

PS – Still hoping that IPR will establish an iTunes/mp3 stream.