Tap-Dance Savion Glover Performs At Baltimore Symphony

The rhythmically gifted feet of tap-dancing king Savion Glover will step on stage alongside the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra March 1 and 3 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and March 2 at the Music Center at Strathmore. BSO Music Director Designate Marin Alsop brings her commanding and dramatic style to these Symphony with a Twistâ„¢ concerts, which feature Mr. Glover's original choreography set to Duke Ellington's jazz suite The River.

Leonard Bernstein's jazzy Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, along with additional dance-inspired works performed by dancers from the Atlantic Ballroom and Baltimore School for the Arts, complete the program.

Of Mr. Glover's January 2007 debut performance of The River with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Free Press raved, "Savion Glover [is] the eighth wonder of the world," with a "virtuoso command of syncopated time"¦he didn't so much stop time as stop the world." Mr. Glover is often credited with the revival of tap dancing, beginning with his 1996 Tony Award-winning Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk and most recently, Warner Brother's 2006 animated feature Happy Feet. Mr. Glover is currently on tour with his show Classical Savion, in which he is accompanied by chamber ensembles as he taps to masterpieces from composers including Bach and Vivaldi. His performances with the Baltimore Symphony are among Mr. Glover's only appearances ever with a full symphony orchestra.

Prolific composer Duke Ellington's 1970 work The River provides the brilliant backdrop for Mr. Glover's immense talents. The work represents the composer's signature fusion of jazz and classical techniques that defy categorization. Evoking the spirit of a flowing river while alluding to the spiritual flow of life itself, The River was originally scored as a symphonic ballet for the legendary Alvin Ailey, whose choreography for the piece lives on today. Savion Glover's new and unique interpretation gives The River a refreshing twist.

Maestra Alsop also leads the Orchestra in equally dynamic dance-inspired compositions, including Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Adapted from Bernstein's award-winning score for the 1957 musical West Side Story, the Symphonic Dances mirror the story's plot, capturing the tensions of rival gangs, the syncopated rhythms and Latin beats, and the tragic romance between the star-crossed lovers, Tony and Maria.

James P. Johnson's jazzy Charleston and the accompanying "flapper"-style dance still characterize the "Roaring Twenties," which will be brought to the stage by gifted dancers from Baltimore School for the Arts; the Orchestra will also perform the composer's big band classic Victory Stride. Dancers from the Atlantic Ballroom will perform Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Dominick Argento's passionate yet delicate Tango from his 1994 opera The Dream of Valentino.

MARIN ALSOP, conductor

Marin Alsop recently made history with her appointment as music director of the Baltimore Symphony beginning with the 2007-2008 season. She will be the first woman to head a major American orchestra, which mirrors her ongoing success in the United Kingdom as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony, a post she has held since 2002.

In summer 2005, she was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive this most prestigious American award. The first artist to win Gramophone's "Artist of the Year" award and the Royal Philharmonic Society's Conductor's Award in the same season (2003), Maestra Alsop recently won the Classical Brit Award for Best Female Artist of 2005.

Ms. Alsop is a regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also appears frequently as a guest conductor with many distinguished orchestras worldwide. After a highly successful 12-year tenure as music director of the Colorado Symphony, Ms. Alsop continues her association there as conductor laureate; she also continues as music director of the highly acclaimed Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California.
Marin Alsop is a native of New York City; she attended Yale University and received her master's degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she was a prizewinner at the Leopold Stokowski International Conducting Competition. In New York, and in the same year, she was awarded the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a pupil of Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, and Gustav Meier.

SAVION GLOVER, tap dancer and choreographer

Savion Glover - performer, choreographer, director, and producer- lit up Broadway when he won the 1996 Tony Award for choreography for the musical Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. Mr. Glover's masterful choreography and performance in the musical also earned him the 1996 Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, two Fred Astaire Awards and the 1996 Dance Magazine Choreographer of the Year Award. Mr. Glover made his Broadway debut at age 10 starring in The Tap Dance Kid, and his film debut at age 13 in Tap with Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr.

In 1997, he created a dance company with which he performed nationally and internationally. He has also toured with tap legends Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown and Diane Walker, and in 2001 created a new dance company called Ti Dii. The choreographer of the award-winning Nike "Free Style" commercials and star of Spike Lee's feature film Bamboozled, Glover is the recipient of the 2004 Capezio Award, which was presented to him while performing at the Joyce Theater for a sold-out series of his newest show, "Classical Savion," in January 2005. -- www.baltimoresymphony.org