orchestra21

Genadi. Gary. Gershwin.

My good friend Genadi Zagor joined us at the WCFSO a few weeks ago for a scintillating rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, presented alongside a suite of indelible images created for the occasion by Gary Kelley. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at our rehearsal and performance, from photographer Noah Henscheid. [View the set on Flickr.]

Metropolitan madness

The A-Train
Gary Kelley, 2009

George Gershwin claimed that he conceived the ‘metropolitan madness’ of Rhapsody in Blue ‘on a train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang.’ That same raw rhythmic inspiration was at the heart of our recent period-orchestra rendition at the WCFSO with pianist Genadi Zagor. The image by Gary Kelley is one of a series commissioned for this concert and shown in a narrative video piece alongside the performance.

Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue with Genadi Zagor
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, February 6, 2010

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Strings Attached

Fabulous views of my recent Louisville Orchestra concert with Calexico and The Airborne Toxic Event, by O’Neil Arnold. [View the set on Flickr.]

551 for 254

On the occasion of Mozart’s 254th birthday, the buoyant dance movement of his last and most exuberant symphony:

Mozart – Symphony K551, Menuetto-Trio
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, November 3, 2007

More Mozart from this blog here.

Mahler month → The trauermarsch

‘Measured. Severe. Like a funeral procession.’
Gustav Mahler’s tempo indication for the first movement of his Fifth Symphony.

Mahler - Symphony no. 5, Trauermarsch
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, November 14, 2009