“Practically everyone has heard of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker Suite’ and it’s supposed to be performed at Christmas time, right?” writes Sheryl DeVore in Tuesday’s (4/10) Lake County News-Sun (Illinois). “Call it Christmas in April, because the famous music … will be performed April 21 by the Lake County Symphony Orchestra. And it will be a lot jazzier.” The free tribute concert to former principal trumpet Mark Rymer, who died in 2011 at age 34, “features the Mark Rymer Jazz Ensemble. For the concert, [Lake County Symphony] conductor Ron Arden has chosen a theme of ‘Tchaikovsky Meets Ellington.’ … Duke Ellington … arranged the ‘Nutcracker Suite’ in 1960 for big band…. Composer and conductor Jeff Tyzik asked Ellington if he could arrange five of the movements for small jazz combo and symphony orchestra—and that’s what the audience will hear at the Rymer concert, among other pieces. The orchestra will play an original Tchaikovsky movement, followed by the jazz ensemble and orchestra arrangement by Ellington/Tyzik…. Arden said he’s wanted to meld the orchestra and jazz ensemble together somehow. ‘This is the perfect way to start out,’ he said.” The Lake County Symphony Orchestra was formerly known as the FullScore Chamber Orchestra.
Posted April 12, 2018
Pictured: Lake County Symphony Artistic Director Ron Arden directs the FullScore Chamber Orchestra, as the Lake County Symphony was known until 2016.
