December 3, 2009

New Work by Jeff Tyzik Debuts Next Week

Jeff Tyzik's new work RIFFS will debut at next week's concert by the Eastman Wind Ensemble (EWE), with Eastman School of Music Professor of Percussion Michael Burritt as soloist. Friday, December 11 at 8:00 pm in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre.

"I’ve always been captivated by the skillful development of simple musical ideas by composers I admire, from Beethoven to Bernstein." says Jeff. "On the jazz side of my life, I have also been excited by the energy created from the repetition and development of small phrases which jazz musicians call riffs.

"When Mark Scatterday asked me to compose a piece for Michael Burritt and the EWE, I thought it might be fun to combine jazz and classical compositional techniques in creating a vehicle for Michael’s incredible talents. Michael was very interested in a piece that would highlight his drum set abilities and it fit perfectly with my musical intentions in creating RIFFS. Three sections including fast swing, a heavy medium swing, and an Afro-Cuban finale turn the EWE into a huge jazz ensemble with Michael leading the way."

This free concert is a preview of an upcoming EWE concert at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the world's largest instrumental music conference. For more information about the other works on the program, click here.

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