MARSALIS BRASILIANOS – EXCLUSIVE NYC ENGAGEMENT!
FILARMONIA BRASILEIRA with SAXOPHONE SOLOIST BRANFORD MARSALIS
In Celebration of Lehman College’s 40th Anniversary
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts proudly presents the exclusive New York City engagement of MARSALIS BRASILIANOS, with the award-winning FILARMONIA BRASILEIRA, conducted by the orchestra’s founder GIL JARDIM, and GRAMMY® Award-winning saxophonist BRANFORD MARSALIS as the featured soloist, on Saturday, November 1, 2008 at 8pm as part of Lehman College’s 40th Anniversary Celebration. The orchestra’s U.S tour commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passing of revered Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), distinguished not only for his modernist compositions but also for his tireless efforts to improve the music educational system in Brazil. The tour also features works by French composer Darius Mihaud (1892-1974), whose music inspired Villa-Lobos during a visit to Paris. Concert highlights will include Villa-Lobos’ 1949 “Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone and Piano or Orchestra” and Milhaud’s 1937 “Scaramouche” for alto saxophone and orchestra. World-renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis has become increasingly active as a featured soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the Chicago, Detroit, and Dsseldorf symphonies and the Boston Pops. For this concert, a special ticket price of $10 for any seat will be available for children twelve and under.
Filarmonia Brasileira was established in 1994 under the artistic direction of conductor Gil Jardim and has quickly gained notoriety through its participation in Brazilian cultural events and its involvement in the glorification and preservation of the work of Villa-Lobos. The orchestra recently performed a concert and recorded a CD that accurately reconstructed the first concert Villa-Lobos held in Paris in 1924. This recording, titled i>Villa-Lobos in Paris, was awarded the Diapason d’Or from the well-known magazine Diapason and was nominated for the 2nd Bravo Culture Award. Since 1984, Gil Jardim has been a professor at the University of São Paulo-USP, where he teaches orchestral conducting and now heads the Music Department. He founded Filarmonia Brasileira as a way to explore an important tradition in Brazilian music: the fusion of ethnic and erudite elements. Gil Jardim has also appeared with the Brooklyn Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra in New York, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and the Camerata Mexicana in Mexico.
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis has always had diverse musical interests, from jazz, blues and funk to such classical music projects as his current tour with Filarmonia Brasileira. The three-time GRAMMY Award winner continues to expand his skills as an instrumentalist and composer as he oversees Marsalis Music, the label he founded in 2002 that has allowed him to produce both his own projects and those of promising new and established artists. The New Orleans native was born into one of the city’s most distinguished musical families, which includes patriarch/pianist/educator Ellis and siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. Branford gained initial acclaim through his work with his brother Wynton’s jazz quintet in the early 1980s before forming his own ensemble. He has also performed and recorded with such jazz giants as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for MARSALIS BRASILIANOS – BRANFORD MARSALIS with FILARMONIA BRASILEIRA on Saturday, November 1, 2008 at 8pm, are: $25, $20, $15 and $10 (Children 12 and under, $10 any seat) and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718.960.8833 (Mon. through Fri., 10AM–5PM, and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through 24-hour online access. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Free parking is available.
Lehman Center receives support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.
For more information contact Leah Grammatica Public Relations.
