Irvington, NY - The 16-musician Westchester Jazz Orchestra will take a musical voyage down the Hudson River in April with the world premiere of a three-movement suite inspired by locations on the River. The concert, titled “Americana," will take place on Saturday, April 10 at 8 PM at the Irvington Town Hall Theater, 85 Main Street in Irvington, just a few blocks east of the Hudson. Reserved seating tickets are $35, $30 for seniors, $5 for students. westjazzorch.org, Irvington Theater box office, 914-591-6602. A pre-concert talk with the composer begins at 7:15.
“Flow: In Celebration of the Hudson River," written by the group's artistic director and conductor, Mike Holober, begins with a passionate and dynamic tenor saxophone feature, “Tear of the Clouds," continues with a slow jazz waltz, “Opalescence," and ends with a bluesy Duke Ellington-inspired section, “Harlem." The commission was funded by an Individual Artists grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Hosted by WBGO-FM's Music Director and Morning Show Host Gary Walker, the concert will also include premieres of arrangements by Ellen Rowe, Pete McGuinness and legendary composer Jim McNeely.
Composer Mike Holober will elaborate on the work and his inspiration as an avid outdoorsman and Hudson River adventurer in an informal pre-concert talk at 7:15. As WJO's artistic director since 2007, he has already created 14 arrangements for the group, drawing from his training as a classical pianist as well as from the jazz, blues and rock genres in his compositions. Holober has worked with leading jazz orchestras in Europe and the United States and, as a pianist, he appears on more than 50 recordings. He is a multiple MacDowell Fellow, guest of Yaddo, and Ucross Foundation Resident. An associate professor at City College of New York, he is also associate director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.
WJO, now in its seventh season, is the County's hometown treasure, performing a broad range of jazz works at a world-class level. The group is renowned for the high caliber of its musicians as well as for the arrangements it commissions. The hundreds of luminaries with whom WJO musicians have worked include Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Wynton Marsalis, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Charles Mingus, Ella Fitzgerald and Barbara Streisand.
WJO's concerts are partially funded by the New York State Council on the Arts and ArtsWestchester.
“Flow: In Celebration of the Hudson River," written by the group's artistic director and conductor, Mike Holober, begins with a passionate and dynamic tenor saxophone feature, “Tear of the Clouds," continues with a slow jazz waltz, “Opalescence," and ends with a bluesy Duke Ellington-inspired section, “Harlem." The commission was funded by an Individual Artists grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Hosted by WBGO-FM's Music Director and Morning Show Host Gary Walker, the concert will also include premieres of arrangements by Ellen Rowe, Pete McGuinness and legendary composer Jim McNeely.
Composer Mike Holober will elaborate on the work and his inspiration as an avid outdoorsman and Hudson River adventurer in an informal pre-concert talk at 7:15. As WJO's artistic director since 2007, he has already created 14 arrangements for the group, drawing from his training as a classical pianist as well as from the jazz, blues and rock genres in his compositions. Holober has worked with leading jazz orchestras in Europe and the United States and, as a pianist, he appears on more than 50 recordings. He is a multiple MacDowell Fellow, guest of Yaddo, and Ucross Foundation Resident. An associate professor at City College of New York, he is also associate director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.
WJO, now in its seventh season, is the County's hometown treasure, performing a broad range of jazz works at a world-class level. The group is renowned for the high caliber of its musicians as well as for the arrangements it commissions. The hundreds of luminaries with whom WJO musicians have worked include Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Wynton Marsalis, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Charles Mingus, Ella Fitzgerald and Barbara Streisand.
WJO's concerts are partially funded by the New York State Council on the Arts and ArtsWestchester.
