Pops Concert This Weekend Features Spectacular Music & Dance!

For the first time ever on the Pops season, the RPO is teaming up with Rochester City Ballet for Dance Mix – tonight and Saturday night at 8:00 pm at Kodak Hall.

I had a chance to see last night’s rehearsal and the combination of music and dance was really spectacular! Gershwin’s Three Preludes was appropriately jazzy and sultry, and in addition to the amazing RCB dancers featured our wonderful Principal Clarinetist Kenny Grant.

Jeff Tyzik’s Bravo! Colorado evocatively depicted both the epic grandeur and the delicate beauty of the alpine setting that inspired it. Use this link to read about Bravo! Colorado from a dancer's perspective.

The evening also includes Duke Ellington’s version of the Nutcracker Suite as well as other music with dance themes, such as Arnold’s lilting Four Scottish Dances and the Latin rhythms of Marquez’ Danzon No. 2.
   
Tickets are still available for this weekend’s concerts and start at $15. Click here for more concert information.

(Bravo! Colorado photo by Tim Leverett)
   

Swing and Sway with the RPO and the Rochester City Ballet—2 Nights Only

What happens when two different art forms come together on the same stage? The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Rochester City Ballet are giving you the chance to find out. For the first time ever on the Pops Series, Jeff Tyzik and the RPO are teaming up with Rochester City Ballet—come and experience this dynamic fusion of music and dance!

The talented dancers of the RCB and the exciting choreography of RCB Artistic Director Jamey Leverett will take center stage at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, Friday, January 28 and Saturday, January 29 at 8:00 pm.

Leverett’s choreography will be paired with equally exciting music: George Gershwin’s Three Preludes, featuring RPO Principal Clarinetist Kenneth Grant; a jazzed-up version of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, as arranged by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn; and Bravo! Colorado, composed by the RPO’s own Jeff Tyzik.

Click here to read the RCB blog for a dancer’s perspective on Ellington’s “Sugar Rum Cherry.” Also, use this link or click below to view video footage from Bravo! Colorado and learn more about the company.



The program will also be sprinkled with an eclectic mix of orchestral dance music, ranging from Johann Strauss, Jr.’s elegant Blue Danube waltzes to Arturo Marquez’ electrifying Danzon No. 2. This is a fantastic opportunity to see and hear two first-rate groups perform live, and to see and hear what makes Rochester such a great arts town—don’t miss it!

Tickets start at $15, and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 454-2100; or, click here to buy online.

Canadian Conductor Julian Kuerti Leads Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

You’ve probably heard the opening four notes many times: Dah, dah dah daaaaaaaah. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony has perhaps the most familiar opening in all of classical music. That rhythm appears throughout the first movement, and is only one way in which Beethoven broke new ground when the piece was first performed in 1808. (Click here to learn more.)

You’ll have a chance to hear it for yourself next week when Julian Kuerti makes his RPO debut on Thursday, January 20 & Saturday, January 22. (Use this link for concert details.)

One of the most significant conducting talents to emerge in recent years, this Canadian conductor comes from a very musical family: his father is the famed pianist Anton Kuerti. Julian Kuerti recently completed a post as assistant conductor to James Levine at the Boston Symphony and has led orchestras across North America. Before beginning his studies in conducting, he completed an honors degree in engineering and physics and performed as concertmaster and violin soloist. He also toured Brazil with the Toronto-based world-music band Kahana. Click here to read more about Julian Kuerti.

This concert also features the debut of violinist Karen Gomyo, who performs Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. She is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and has performed with orchestras around the world. Born in Tokyo and raised in Montreal, she has been described as "a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality, brilliance, and intensity" (Chicago Tribune). Use this link to read about Karen Gomyo.

Tickets start at $15. For tickets, call 454-2100 or click here to buy online.