ORLANDO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA CELEBRATES WORKS OF AMERICAN COMPOSERS

Choir composed of residents from Central Florida Community to join the Philharmonic onstage for special performance

 

The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra continues its 2019-2020 Season with American Rhapsody on Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m. at Bob Carr Theater. The concert, led by Music Director Eric Jacobsen, takes the audience through a program of all American composers which features music deeply rooted in the American culture.

 

The Philharmonic welcomes esteemed Vocalists Alicia Hall Moran, Holland Andrews, and Holcombe Waller alongside Pianists Aaron Diehl and Gabriel Kahane to the stage for a performance of the Symphonic Overture “America, the Beautiful” to open the America-themed evening.

 

The concert, the fourth of five in the FAIRWINDS Classics Series, will also feature a recently premiered piece by Gabriel Kahane, who is also composer-in-residence of the orchestra this season. Entitled emergency shelter intake form, the oratorio is an orchestral and vocal work about homelessness. This work will feature Vocalist Holland Andrews alongside a choir including residents of the Central Florida community who have experienced homelessness as well as those who serve the community.

 

Program:

JIESymphonic Overture “America, the Beautiful”

GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue

KAHANEemergency shelter intake form

 

Alicia Hall Moran – mezzo soprano and composer – conjures from the sonic molecules of classical music and jazz a creative world entirely her own. Her latest album, Here Today (2017), was released to high praise with transcendent vocal performances that travel easily from jazz club to symphony hall. Moran made her breakout debut in the Tony winning revival The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. A natural collaborator, her sensitivity and skill have been tapped by multiple artists across various disciplines. Moran has held multiple artist residencies, as well as having multiple solo commissions.

 

Holland Andrews is an American extended technique vocalist, composer, and performer who works across Europe and the United States. Andrews is a musician who combines influences from contemporary opera, musical theater, and experimental genres such as ambient and noise music. Andrews focuses on collaborations in dance, theater, and film, in addition to composing solo works, often times under the stage name Like a Villain. Holland sings in and composed the music for the critically acclaimed dance piece “Unwanted” by choreographer Dorothée Munyaneza, a work that has received accolades from The New York Times, Le Monde, La Repubblica, The Financial Times, and The New Yorker, and continues to be performed at festivals worldwide.

 

Holcombe Waller, one of America’s most unique voices in musical theater, is a Creative Capitalartist, a four-time recipient of the map Fund grant, and a Joan Shipley Fellow of the Regional Arts and Culture Council. His performances have been presented and commissioned in various locations across the United States as well as internationally. Waller has held acting roles in multiple films, alongside releasing five self-made albums through his own label, Napoleon Records.

 

A 33-year-old classically trained pianist and composer, Aaron Diehl has made an indelible mark on the jazz world over the last 15 years. Showing an affinity for early jazz and mid-20th century “third-stream” music, his latest evolution comes as he begins to tackle modern classical works, performing works by George Gershwin with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and LA Philharmonic. He has worked with living multiple masters, from NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson to 20th century classical titan Philip Glass. Jazz critics for The New York Times have praised Mr. Diehl’s “melodic precision, harmonic erudition, and elegant restraint,” while the same paper’s classical critics have noted, “Mr. Diehl play[s] magnificently.”

 

The Philharmonic’s 2019-2020 Composer-in-Residence Gabriel Kahane has quietly established himself as a songwriter all his own over the last decade, grafting a deep interest in storytelling to a keen sense of harmony and rhythm. He has collaborated with a diverse number of artists, and commissioned by many orchestras across the nation along with making several solo guest appearances. His oratorio emergency shelter intake form originally premiered with the Oregon Symphony in May 2018, and has previously been introduced in Portland and Chicago. He took on the commission from the Oregon Symphony in May 2016, and while he says taking on such a project was easier said than done, it is a beautifully-crafted piece which can spark discussion about the homelessness crisis occurring across the nation.

 

In March 2020, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra will participate in acts of volunteer service throughout the Central Florida community in an effort to give back to the community and bring more awareness to the issue of homelessness. 

 

A Community Conversation will take place on Wednesday, March 18 from 5:15 p.m. – 7 p.m. at The Plaza Live. The event will be hosted by Music Director Eric Jacobsen and Composer-in-Residence Gabriel Kahane. This event will also feature Mike Griffin, Chair, Managing Board Members & the Leadership Council; Martha Are, Executive Director, Homelessness Services Network of Central Florida. The event is free and open to the public.

 

FAIRWINDS Credit Union is the Classics Series Sponsor. The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is funded in part by United Arts of Central Florida, home of OrlandoAtPlay.com and UAArtsEd.com and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the City of Orlando.

 

Single tickets are on sale starting at $27 and can be purchased online at orlandophil.org, by calling 407.770.0071, or in person at the Box Office, located at The Plaza Live (425 N. Bumby Avenue, Orlando). The Box Office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Ticket prices subject to change.) 

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Celebrating its 27th Season, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is led by Music Director

Eric Jacobsen and is comprised of creative musicians and artists from around the world. The Philharmonic annually presents the FAIRWINDS Classics Series and Pops Series at Bob Carr Theater and its Focus Series at The Plaza Live, a historic Central Florida venue. The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s mission is to enrich and inspire the diverse communities of Central Florida through the transformative power of live music, and it presents more than 170 live concerts and impacts more than 70,000 children, youth and families annually through its Young People’s Concerts, Symphony Storytime Series, Notes in Your Neighborhood program, and free outdoor community concerts. A resident company of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the Philharmonic will perform in Steinmetz Hall when it opens in 2020. Learn more at orlandophil.org.

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About the Artists:

Alicia Hall Moran– http://www.aliciahallmoran.com/

Holland Andrews– https://orlandophil.org/people/holland-andrews/

Holcombe Waller– https://holcombewaller.bandcamp.com/

Aaron Diehl– https://www.instagram.com/aaronjdiehl/

Gabriel Kahane– https://orlandophil.org/people/gabriel-kahane/

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