The New England Jazz Ensemble takes the wraps off its new adaptation of Prokofiev’s classic “Peter and the Wolf,” with narration by vocalist Giacomo Gates, during First Night Hartford. With a “hip” libretto by Gates, the 16-piece big band will perform the new work twice on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 31 (3pm and 4pm), at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Enter from Atheneum Square; admission is free to anyone with a First Night wristband.
The concert features Walt Gwardyak’s arrangement of Prokofiev’s classic story, the first big-band adaptation in more than 50 years. Gwardyak is a founder and the music director of the New England Jazz Ensemble, which was formed more than 20 years ago to profile the compositions and arrangements of jazz musicians in the region....
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The New England Jazz Ensemble takes the wraps off its new adaptation of Prokofiev’s classic “Peter and the Wolf,” with narration by vocalist Giacomo Gates, during First Night Hartford. With a “hip” libretto by Gates, the 16-piece big band will perform the new work twice on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 31 (3pm and 4pm), at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Enter from Atheneum Square; admission is free to anyone with a First Night wristband.
The concert features Walt Gwardyak’s arrangement of Prokofiev’s classic story, the first big-band adaptation in more than 50 years. Gwardyak is a founder and the music director of the New England Jazz Ensemble, which was formed more than 20 years ago to profile the compositions and arrangements of jazz musicians in the region.
Giacomo Gates, one of today’s most prominent jazz singers, has re-composed the spoken story in “hip” language, and will narrate behind the New England Jazz Ensemble’s musical performance.
Peter and the Wolf was written in 1936, by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, who had been commissioned to write a symphony to introduce young people to orchestral music. Prokofiev’s decision to link each instrument in the orchestra to a character in the storyline and to write music that supported the adventures of those characters, proved a very popular device. Gwardyak’s adaptation also pairs instruments –albeit those that are more familiar to jazz audiences-- with the characters.
The project is funded in part by a grant from the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation. Additional details can be found at www.firstnighthartford.org and www.NEJE.org.
The New England Jazz Ensemble was created in 1991 to play original work and to explore new sounds for the jazz orchestra. One of the region’s top driving forces that are keeping the big band genre thriving, its library of original compositions is incomparable. Its stable of arrangers is headed by music director/pianist Walt Gwardyak, and includes band members Jeff Holmes, John Mastroianni, Phil Person and others.
Known as “the region’s own big band,” New England Jazz Ensemble has performed with numerous guest artists including Thomas Chapin, Phil Wilson, Dick Johnson, John Allmark, Shawn Monteiro, George Masso, Art Baron, Nick Brignola, Gerry Neiwood, John Abercrombie, Ali Ryerson, and Giacomo Gates. Abercrombie, Ryerson and Gates appears as guest artists on the band’s most recent CD (“It’s a Grand Night for Swinging”), recorded ‘live’ in concert at the Polish National Home in Hartford. Also in the making is their big-band reworking of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” with a CD anticipated for early 2016.
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