The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra will close out its 33rd season May 10 with ‘Swingin’ the Classics,’ a regional all-star big band presenting classically inspired works as swing.
Re-imagining classical music as jazz has been in vogue since Ragtime of the early 1900s. Composer-arrangers grew up on the classics, and their familiarity made spinning war horses in a new genre a natural extension of their talents.
The evening kicks off with Eugen Cicero’s adaptation of C.P.E. Bach’s Solfeggio in C minor for jazz piano trio, followed by a newer Jeremy Levy big band adaptation of Gustav Holst’s “Mars” from The Planets. Several Billy May charts — from the 1950s — will follow including classical hits by Ketèlbey, Dvorak, Bizet, Verdi, Brahms and a killer re-working of Franz von Suppe’s Poet and Peasant Overture.
Following intermission the band turns to current big band guru Gordon Goodwin and his forays into the music of J.S. Bach, Mozart and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra Swingin’ the Classics will begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10 at Greaves Concert Hall on the campus of Northern Kentucky University.
Tickets are $19-$35, with children 50% off. A virtual pass to livestream the performance is available for $35, allowing for unlimited views until June 11.
For additional info and tickets, visit kyso.org or call 859-431-6216.
Kentucky Symphony Orchestra