The Jacksonville Symphony will present its fifth Florida Blue Classical concert of the 75th Anniversary Season with “Gershwin & Tchaikovsky” on Jan. 10 and 11, led by Music Director Laureate of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Robert Spano and featuring the Marcus Roberts Trio.
The program blends classical, jazz and the blues in a unique American sound with George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and living composer Carlos Simon’s “Motherboxx Connection.”
The concert opens with “Motherboxx Connection,” a piece commissioned by the Sphinx Organization and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. It is the first movement of Simon’s “Tales: A Folklore Symphony,” a four-movement work inspired by African-American heroes. Simon will return for the season finale to present his world premiere of “Zodiac” on June 6 and 7.
Then, the Marcus Roberts Trio, native to Jacksonville, will join the symphony for Gershwin’s Concerto in F. Known as a jazz concerto, it is full of syncopated rhythms and complex melodies with a “magical freshness” added by the group. This trio allows the music to take over, resulting in a dynamic collaboration between these three long-time friends and musicians.
The finale of the program is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, a dramatic work full of crescendos and tempo shifts. The piece showcases the wind section with several solos, including its popular French horn solo in the second movement, which will highlight the symphony's principal horn, Kevin Reid.
Tickets are available at JaxSymphony.org or by calling the box office at 904-354-5547. This concert is part of the Greta Challen Berg Artist Series.
