Connecticut Little Symphony in NYC presents a Russian-American Concert

Featured on the program will be special arrangements of Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Copland’s Simple Gifts from Appalachian Spring and his hauntingly evocative Quiet City. Also included will be Elmer Bernstein’s concert suite from the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the theme from the movie “Schindler’s List,” by John Williams, and the theme from “The Bad and the Beautiful,” by David Raksin. In addition, the program will feature the music of Cole Porter, Eric Ewazen, John Cheetham, and a commissioned piece for The Canadian Brass by film composer Michael Kamen.

Most Americans don’t realize that the “American Sound” was actually created by Russian-Americans. Gershwin, Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and others all formed a certain style and use of tonality that still reverberates with the rest of the world. When we think of the distinctive sound we’ve become famous for, it always encompasses that of Copland—think his Rodeo, Billy the Kid, or Appalachian Spring with its modular tonalities. Leonard Bernstein gave us West Side Story and a host of symphonic works melding classical, jazz, and modern elements into a distinctive sound. George Gershwin not only provided us with popular songs, but brought Jazz into the symphony space well before Bernstein with his Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. Of course, the works of other composers will be featured on the program, but each of them has a link to the Russian-American connection. Cole Porter and sit side-by-side with Gershwin—both of them having composed their greatest works around the same time, and the music of John Cheetham and Eric Ewazan owes a debt to the marvelous movie scores of Elmer Bernstein. Certainly all present day American composers have been influenced by Aaron Copland’s tonal works from the 1940s, and he is probably the true father of “Americana.”

The Connecticut Little Symphony, which is made up of professional players from the CT and NYC area, includes alumni from Juilliard, Yale, Eastman, Moscow State University, New York University, and the Manhattan School of Music. Members have performed with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Chappaqua Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Greenwich Symphony, Stamford Symphony, Bridgeport Symphony, and New Haven Symphony, as well as numerous chamber music groups throughout the area. Collectively the musicians have performed with such musical luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, John Williams, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Lena Horn, Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Hamlish, Mel Torme, Dean Martin, Eric Leinsdorf, Henry Mancini, Bernadette Peters, and in over fifty Broadway shows.

Musicians performing on this concert are Dorothy Darlington, oboe; Kerry Walker, flute; Ray Guier, horn; Rosemary Dellinger, bassoon; Bruce Kimball, clarinet; Joe Petrizzo, trombone; Dan Duncan and Louise Baranger, trumpet; Ulysses Torres, tuba, Nicholas Szucs and Elyse Gellert, violin; Amy Selig, viola; and Andrew Gordon, piano.