Rhapsody in Blue a highlight of NZSM

27 September 2007

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue a highlight of NZSM spectacular

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue will be the centrepiece of a New Zealand School of Music concert next month.

In his only Wellington performance, Grammy-nominated jazz pianist, composer and arranger Bill Cunliffe will perform his arrangement of the piece that established Gershwin’s reputation as a composer.

Using the original orchestration, Cunliffe pays homage to the 1924 debut of Rhapsody and recaptures its improvisatory nature.

Rhapsody in Blue has often been interpreted as a musical portrait of New York City, and is used to this effect in Woody Allen's film Manhattan.

Featuring Cunliffe as soloist, supported by bassist Paul Dyne, drummer Steve Houghton and the NZSM Orchestra, it promises to be a showstopper.

Americans Cunliffe and Houghton will also perform at the Queenstown international jazz festival. Houghton is an internationally recognised drummer, percussionist, author and educator.

Also in the NZSM concert, Wellington City Organist and keyboard specialist Douglas Mews will join the orchestra to perform Camille Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No 3, popularly known as the ‘organ symphony’.

Student soloists from the NZSM classical performance voice department will sing with the orchestra in Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music.

NZSM Director Professor Elizabeth Hudson said the concert showcases the best of both classical and jazz – exactly what the NZSM is all about.

“It’s our biggest event of the year, and our students, staff and guests will be giving a vividly entertaining view of the collaborations that define us.”

NZSM Spectacular concert
Wednesday 17 October at 8pm, Wellington Town Hall
Tickets at $35 / 20 / 10 can be purchased from Ticketek. Media are welcome to attend.

ENDS

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