Singapore, 6 June 2013 (Thursday) – In collaboration with the Esplanade, Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) will present a spectacular jazz blues concert with American pianist Leon Bates, soprano Kimberly Eileen Jones and baritone Lawrence Mitchell-Matthews, featuring a selection of famous American composer George Gershwin’s works. This uniquely east-meets-west concert will be presented on 20 July 2013 (Saturday), 7.30pm at the Esplanade Concert Hall. SCO Music Director Tsung Yeh conducts.
George Gershwin (1898 – 1937) was a renowned American composer who had composed numerous popular songs and operas. His compositions have been used in many films and on television, and several became jazz standards recorded in many variations. In 1924, his composition for piano and jazz band, Rhapsody in Blue, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects, established his reputation as a composer. In this concert, Leon Bates, one of America’s leading pianists, will perform this popular piece and I Got Rhythm: Variations with the SCO. Leon bates is invited to perform on the major concert stages around the world and critics find his musical spirit to possess all the elements of greatness.
This concert will commence with Gershwin’s Strike Up the Band. Pieces from Porgy and Bess, with its music by Gershwin, will be performed in this concert. Porgy and Bess is now widely regarded as one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century. It tells the story of Porgy and Bess, who yearn for freedom and escape, vividly reveals the true life of African-Americans. Summertime, A Woman is a Sometime Thing, My Man’s Gone Now, I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin, Porgy, I’s Your Woman Now, Oh I Can’t Sit Down and Oh Lawd I’m On My Way, will be presented by soprano Kimberly Eileen Jones, baritone Lawrence Mitchell-Matthews, NUSChoir and Anderson Junior College Choir.
Other than the works by Gershwin, the concert will also present the “Father of Blues” – William Christopher Handy’s masterpiece St. Louis Blues. Kimberly Eileen Jones will also sing a medley of American Spirituals which include Every Time I Feel the Spirit, Steal Away, My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord and Ride on King Jesus.
Conductor Tsung Yeh
Piano Leon Bates
Soprano Kimberly Eileen Jones
Baritone Lawrence Mitchell-Matthews
Chorus Master Nelson Kwei
Choir NUSChoir, Anderson Junior College Choir
Concert details:
Mostly Gershwin
Date: 20 July 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall
Ticket Prices: $68, $48, $38/$19*, $28/$14*
Tickets from SISTIC
*Concession prices
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