Seattle Orchestra Teams Up With Mark O'Connor

Grammy award–winning O'Connor lends his artistic vision to Seattle Symphony's new festival as Festival Director, bringing together an eclectic and inspiring mix of artists and attractions.

The festival begins on June 26 as Seattle Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz leads the Orchestra and soprano Jane Eaglen in the passionate love theme from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Mahler's powerful Symphony No. 6 in A minor. Other highlights include a performance by national treasure Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on June 1; two stunning on-screen presentations of The Blue Planet Live! accompanied by Seattle Symphony on July 8 and 9; some of the world's best cirque artists with live orchestra in Cirque de la Symphonie on July 11 and 12; several performances by Mark O'Connor himself, and much more.

"It is a great opportunity for me to return to my hometown of Seattle to help create a summer music festival with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall," Festival Director Mark O'Connor noted while on tour. "I've spent my entire career working to cross bridges... to celebrate music and musicians in all genres, and it is such a delight to be able to help bring this vision to Seattle in a form of an artistic music festival featuring some of the greatest musicians of our time. The lineup is extraordinary, from Mahler performed by the Seattle Symphony to Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Jazz Band to Earl Scruggs, the patriarch of bluegrass music. SummerFest promises to be an event that is exciting, inspiring and entertaining. Of course I will join in performance during the festival too! I hope to see everyone in July at Seattle Symphony SummerFest!"

Wagner and Mahler

On June 26 through June 29, Seattle Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz will lead the Orchestra in two of the greatest works to come out of the Germanic tradition: Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in A minor and excerpts from Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, featuring soprano Jane Eaglen.

Mahler composed his Symphony No. 6 in 1903–1904 during an exceptionally happy time in his life, following his marriage to Alma Schindler and the birth of his second daughter. Like his earlier symphonies, the Sixth calls for an enlarged orchestra, including, among many other enhancements, four oboes, eight horns, six timpani and a plethora of percussion, from snare drum and glockenspiel to cowbells played both on- and offstage.

Jane Eaglen will join the Orchestra for the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, the most well-known excerpts from the tragic opera. Both pieces showcase the composer's pervasive use of unresolved harmony to create musical and dramatic tension, which only comes to resolution at the moment of Isolde's death. A two-time winner of the Seattle Opera Artist of the Year award, Eaglen has performed with many of the world's leading opera companies, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Teatro alla Scala and the Vienna State Opera. Eaglen has an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical; her solo albums include arias by Wagner and Bellini, Strauss' Four Last Songs, arias by Strauss and Mozart and an album of Italian opera arias. Addidional recordings include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on Sony, and the title roles of Tosca on Chandos, Norma on EMI and Medea in Corinto on Opera Rara.

Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

On June 1, renowned trumpet player and Music Director Wynton Marsalis will lead the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) in a program at Benaroya Hall featuring some of the best in jazz. The JLCO has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra for over 13 years and is featured in all aspects of center's programming. A remarkably versatile orchestra, the JLCO performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S. and around the world; in concert halls, dance venues, jazz clubs, public parks, river boats and churches; and with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes, local students and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists. Dedicated to preserving and promoting America's jazz heritage, the 15-piece orchestra spends over a third of the year on tour, performing a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions, including works by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Strayhorn, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman and Charles Mingus, to newly commissioned works.

The Orchestra regularly premieres new pieces, including those by Benny Carter, Joe Henderson, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter, Sam Rivers, Joe Lovano and former Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Ted Nash and Ron Westray. The Orchestra has collaborated with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston, Chicago and London Symphony orchestras, the Orchestra Esperimentale in Sao Paolo, and others. In 2006, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra collaborated with Ghanaian drum collective Odadaa!, led by Yacub Addy, to perform "Congo Square," a composition Marsalis co-wrote and dedicated to his native New Orleans.

Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Plus Punch Brothers with Chris Thile and Sophie Milman

On July 2, Seattle native and American fiddle icon Mark O'Connor will lead his Hot Swing along with the Punch Brothers with Chris Thile and vocal sensation Sophie Milman in a lively, uplifting program. O'Connor has been described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the most talented and imaginative re-inventors working in music – any music – today." This two-time Grammy winner is a consummate cross-pollinator, not only in his musical style, which draws from the varied traditions of country, folk, classical and jazz, but in his multi-dimensional work as a composer, performer and arranger. In 2000, O'Connor joined forces with guitarist Frank Vignola and bassist Jon Burr to form the group Hot Swing. Hot Swing released three albums together, celebrating the music of swing legends Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, Duke Ellington and Johnny Mercer – much of it arranged by O'Connor – as well as newly composed works by O'Connor himself. For Seattle Symphony SummerFest, the group is joined by jazz vocalist Sophie Milman, the winner of the 2008 Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.

Bluegrass band Punch Brothers formed in 2006; within a year their first album, How to Grow a Woman from the Ground, received a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Led by former Nickel Creek front man Chris Thile, who is described as "the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin" (Washington Post), the band also includes fiddler Gabe Witcher, guitarist Chris Eldridge, banjo-player Noam Pikelny and bassist Greg Garrison, all of whom perform vocals as well. Their latest album, Punch, was recorded on Nonesuch Records and released in late February 2008.

The Blue Planet Live!: A Natural History of the Oceans

Audiences can explore the mysteries of the deep on-screen at Benaroya Hall on July 8 and 9. A concert and film presentation all in one, The Blue Planet Live! combines the best footage of the celebrated BBC/Discovery television series with a sweeping soundtrack written and conducted by film score composer George Fenton. Fenton will lead Seattle Symphony in two visually stunning and awe-inspiring performances. It is the hope of The Blue Planet Live! that by witnessing the wonders of the oceans, people can better understand how to protect them. It is a message that reaches both adults and children alike.

George Fenton began writing music for the theater in 1974 and has worked extensively for The Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre and Riverside Studios. Scores include Good, Mother Courage, Racing Demon and, most recently, Othello (Stratford, 1999). Since 1983, he has devoted much of his time to feature films and now divides his work between London and Hollywood. The Academy Award– and Golden Globe–nominated composer has written numerous film scores, including 84 Charing Cross Road, White Mischief, The Dressmaker, High Spirits, A Handful of Dust, The Company of Wolves, Memphis Belle, White Palace, The Long Walk Home, Final Analysis, Accidental Hero, Groundhog Day, Shadowlands, Ladybird Ladybird, Mixed Nuts, The Madness of King George, Land and Freedom, Heaven's Prisoners, Mary Reilly, The Crucible, Carla's Song, In Love and War, My Name is Joe, Ever After, Living Out Loud and You've Got Mail. His most recent scores include Anna and the King, Sweet Sixteen and Sweet Home Alabama, and Christopher Hampton's Imagining Argentina. In 2006, he won both BAFTA and Ivor Novello awards, as well as an Emmy for Best Original Television Music for his score to The Blue Planet. He lectures at Liverpool University, the Royal College of Music and at Nottingham University, where he holds a Special Professorship.

Mark O'Connor & Maya Beiser: "For the Heroes"

On July 10, cellist Maya Beiser will join Festival Director and violinist Mark O'Connor for a performance of O'Connor's tribute to post-September 11th America, "For the Heroes," a double concerto for violin and cello. The piece was composed in the fall of 2001 as O'Connor completed a 30-city American concert tour directly following the events of September 11. O'Connor writes, "I was able to watch our grand American landscape pass by me, mile after mile, as we traveled through the heart of the country. This odyssey was revelatory. We were musicians, to be sure, but we were also a kind of American foot soldier. We were doing what we could to ease the pain people were feeling and expressing in those uneasy days. We were playing distinctly American music, and people were responding in remarkable ways." In his "For the Heroes," O'Connor strove "to create truly heroic overtones to reflect the times." O'Connor's "Americana Symphony" and Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring will also be performed.

Cellist Maya Beiser, described by The New Yorker as a "cello goddess," is a dedicated advocate of new music, and has commissioned and performed numerous works by today's leading composers, including Louis Andriessen, Tan Dun, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Mark O'Connor, Steve Reich and Simon Shaheen. A founding member of the new music ensemble Bang on a Can, Beiser recently toured as a featured soloist with the Philip Glass ensemble, appearing at the Sydney Opera House; Lincoln Center; the World Expo in Nagoya, Japan; and in Barcelona, Paris and San Francisco.

Fiddlin' Fun with Mark O' Connor

Designed for children ages birth to five, Fiddlin' Fun with Mark O'Connor teams up with Studio3Music's Kindermusik educators for a morning of bluegrass and classical favorites. This interactive program inspires children to clap along and move their bodies as they learn about tempo through music that is fast and music that is slow. Program will also include O'Connor's "Call of The Mockingbird." Performances will take place Saturday, July 12, at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. in the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall.

Cirque de la Symphonie

On July 11 and 12, cirque meets symphony for an evening of enchantment and spectacle in Cirque de la Symphonie. Seattle Symphony Associate Conductor Carolyn Kuan will lead the Orchestra in highlights of the symphonic repertoire, setting the stage for the cirque artists and their jaw-dropping feats. Cirque de la Symphonie showcases many of the best cirque artists in the world bedazzling audiences with aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, strongmen and clowns, all choreographed to the sounds of the live orchestra.

Earl Scruggs Plus Abigail Washburn's Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck

Banjo legend Earl Scruggs has reigned over the bluegrass world for more than 60 years, perfecting and popularizing the three-finger picking style that has since defined how bluegrass music is played. He has released more than 25 albums and earned a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor and, in 2003, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In February 2008, Scruggs was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards.

Sparrow Quartet unites banjo masters Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck with violinist Casey Driessen and cellist Ben Sollee in performances of thoughtful arrangements of old-time, folk and bluegrass tunes. The band's influences run the gamut from classical and jazz to the folk music of Appalachia and China. Originally assembled to participate in several U.S. government-sponsored tours of China and Tibet, this all-star acoustic quartet crosses both cultural and musical boundaries.

Seattle Symphony

Seattle Symphony, now presenting its 105th season, has been under the artistic leadership of Music Director Gerard Schwarz since 1985. In 1998, the Orchestra began performing in the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. The Symphony is internationally recognized for its adventurous programming of contemporary works, its devotion to the classics, and its extensive recording history. Seattle Symphony has made more than 100 recordings, garnered 11 Grammy nominations and, in 2007, received an Emmy Award. From September through July, the Symphony is heard live by more than 315,000 people. -- www.seattlesymphony.org