Under the guidance of Music Director Jamin Hoffman, the Concord Chamber Orchestra will close its season with a concert in a “blue” theme. The program opens with “Blue Rag” by Israeli composer Rami Bar-Niv and continues with Morton Gould's 1939 composition Symphonette No. 2 (“American”), which represents one of the best attempts to create the spirit of jazz in a classical orchestra setting—but without the jazz players. The second movement, “Pavane,” has been adapted by such jazz masters as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillepsie. Later will be Jennifer Higdon's Blue Cathedral, a contemporary work by a young American composer that has been performed by more than 150 major symphony orchestras around the world.
The concert finishes with George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Featured is Mark Carlstein, a lifelong Wisconsinite and company pianist for the Milwaukee Ballet for more than a decade. Carlstein has also worked with the Skylight Opera Theatre, Theatre X and the Wisconsin Philharmonic, as well as the Festival City Symphony, Kenosha Symphony and the Knightwind Ensemble. Carlstein also has played piano for Strings of the Heart, a family of Russian violinists.
The “Blue” concert will be held at St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1615 Wauwatosa Ave., on May 7 at 8 p.m.
