SuperPops Heats Up For Mardi Gras

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's SuperPops heats up February 9-11 with the renowned Preservation Hall Jazz Band along with vocalist Banu Gibson and The New Orleans Hot Jazz, bringing the music of New Orleans to the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Just in time for Mardi Gras, this jazzy program is led by BSO Associate Conductor Andrew Constantine. Prior to the concert, the BSO will host a Mardi Gras celebration with light refreshments and live entertainment. Please note: This program opens on February 8 at the Music Center at Strathmore. See below for concert information.

These concerts feature the internationally famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band, recent recipients of the National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence. Formed in 1961 as part of historic Preservation Hall, the group has come to symbolize New Orleans jazz at its best. Joined by the BSO SuperPops, Preservation Hall Jazz Band will perform songs for which they are best known, such as "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" and "Saint Louis Blues."

Award-winning vocalist Banu Gibson and The New Orleans Hot Jazz will perform jazz and Tin Pan Alley favorites with accompaniment by the BSO SuperPops. Songs will include George Gershwin's first hit "Swanee," Harold Arlen's "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" and Harry Warren's "The Lullaby of Broadway."

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Dedicated to preserving New Orleans Jazz, the world-renowned Preservation Hall Jazz Band performs traditional New Orleans music and derives its name from the venerable music venue, The Preservation Hall, located in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1961 by Alan and Sandra Jaffe, who sought to perpetuate the traditional jazz music of New Orleans, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band tours the country and the world as emissaries of this unique American art form.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Ben Jaffe, Creative Director of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and his wife Sarah, founded the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, which provides direct financial assistance to musicians and businesses with the goal of rebuilding of the cultural economy of New Orleans. In November 2006, President George W. Bush awarded Preservation Hall Jazz Band the National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.

Banu Gibson and The New Orleans Hot Jazz

A superior and swinging jazz singer, Banu Gibson is one of the few vocalists of her generation to maintain exclusive loyalty to songs of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. Rather than mimic singers of the past, she mixes fresh renditions of Tin Pan Alley standards and jazz classics by Gershwin, Ellington, Berlin, Carmichael, Waller and Porter. A powerful force on stage as well as on her CDs on the Swing Out label, her enthusiasm and showmanship are highlighted by her wide range and versatility.

Ms. Gibson and her band, The New Orleans Hot Jazz, headline nationwide at concerts, jazz festivals, clubs and jazz parties, and on television. Ms. Gibson toured Europe with the legendary, fiery cornetist Wild Bill Davison, and has continuously performed abroad with The New Orleans Hot Jazz in Germany, England, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and with a contingent of her band in Australia.

The group has taken their music to an expanded audience by performing more than 60 concerts with symphony orchestras. With an extensive repertoire of songs, their performances cover many high points of America's golden age of popular music.

Andrew Constantine, BSO associate conductor

Having gained a reputation in Europe and the United Kingdom as a conductor of great skill, charisma, energy and versatility, Andrew Constantine and his family moved to the United States at the beginning of the 2004-05 season, when he accepted the position of Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. A year later, he was given the title of Associate Conductor and each season conducts dozens of Baltimore Symphony concerts including main series, pops, youth and special concerts.

Born in England of Russian descent, he had the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest teachers in the music world, such as John Carewe, Norman Del Mar, and Leonard Bernstein. In 1991, Andrew Constantine won the first Donatella Flick/Accademia Italiana Conducting Competition and shortly thereafter, with the assistance of a British Council Scholarship, entered the class of conducting legend Ilya Musin at the Leningrad State Conservatory. He also had the good fortune to spend a year as Assistant Conductor to Giuseppe Sinopoli and now Mr. Constantine guest conducts throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. This past season he returned to conduct the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and regularly works with London's great orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra. -- www.baltimoresymphony.org