Rhapsody In Blue

Conductor: Misha Machlak

Featuring: Sonic Fuze, Celine Ng (violin) and Chris Wong (piano)

Program:

• Debussy: Le plus que lente (arr. Kowalewski)
• Ravel: Violin Sonata No.2, Movement 2, Blues (arr. Matthew James)
• Riggs: Cloud Train
• Mancini: Breakfast at Tiffany's and Peter Gunn (arr. Misha Machlak)
• Gershwin: Lullaby (arr. Manookian)
• Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue (arr. Sauter)

Tickets available in card and cash at the door.

The Bluestone Ensemble are fusing jazz and classical styles together in collaboration with Melbourne brother-duo Sonic Fuze as well as pianist Chris Wong and violinist Celine Ng.

The concert begins with a sense of mystery through Claude Debussy's La plus que lente, a dreamy and sultry waltz originally written for piano, written as a homage to Paris' cafe scene. 

Staying in France, the second movement of Maurice Ravel's Violin Sonata No. 2, titled Blues, is a nod to the American blues style which Ravel greatly admired. Originally for violin and piano, this piece has jarring harmony, honky-tonk rhythmic patterns and slides, this time orchestrated for violin and strings, featuring violin soloist Celine Ng.

Taking the pace up a notch, the Bluestone Ensemble will then join forces with the Melbourne based brother jazz duo, Sonic Fuze. Written by jazz saxophonist Lyndon Riggs, Cloud Train will bring a sense of energy and flow, depicting a train going through the clouds. Chris Wong will also be joining in on piano. 

We then fly to America to enjoy some tunes by American song-writers Henry Mancini and George Gershwin. Henry Mancini was one of the iconic film composers from the Hollywood Golden Age and this performance will feature arrangements of Breakfast at Tiffany's and Peter Gunn.

We then ease on the pace with what was perhaps George Gershwin's first 'serious' work, Lullaby, which no doubt took some inspiration from his work as a 'song-plugger' in his youth. This piece is the only piece in this concert natively written for strings.

Finally, we move forward in time to Gershwin's most well-known work Rhapsody In Blue, a very special piece which introduced jazz to classical concert audiences and made Gershwin a star. At the premiere in "An Experiment in Modern Music", Gershwin hadn't written down the solo piano part because he was under such a time-crunch so he improvised on the spot. Featuring pianist Chris Wong, you will hear this famous piece it a little bit differently, arranged for piano and strings.