Buried Treasures
Saturday, February 10, 2007, 8 PM Insights from the Conductor, 7 PM |
Sunday, February 11, 2007, 7 PM Insights from the Conductor, 6 PM |
A concert of precious gems rediscovered. EMCO returns to its roots by unearthing 5 jewels for mixed ensemble. And they were right in you backyard all along!
“Buried Treasures” presents a potpourri of wonderful but little-know gems from 20th Century masters. Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes is a fantasy based on the style and sound of the klezmer band. Beginning with a slow, seductive Near-Eastern dance rhythm, it soon propels itself to wild extravagance. Ibert’s Capriccio is urbane, witty, and as the title suggests, capricious. Alec Wilder was a total New Yorker, eloquent jazz authority and spokesman, and composer of some of the most beautiful jazz compositions of the last century. Worshiped by jazz musicians, his work is little known outside their circles. Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra is proud to present one of the preeminent jazz saxophonists of our time, the Central Coast’s own Paul Contos, in the regional premier of Alec Wilder’s Suite No. 2 for Tenor Saxophone and Strings. Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonietta Op. 1 is the composer’s first published work, and the piece which first established him as England’s leading composer of the 20th Century. Finally, Bohuslav Martinu’s Les Rondes is a boisterous work with its foundations firmly in the joyous Czech dance rhythms which the composer so loved.
Sergey Prokofiev
Overture on Hebrew Themes - (Prokofiev goes Klezmer)
Jacques Ibert
Capriccio, for Strings, Winds and Harp
Alec Wilder
Suite No. 2 for Tenor Sax, for String Ensemble with Jazz Tenor Sax Solo,
with Guest Soloist Paul Contos
Benjamin Britten
Sinfonietta Op. 1, for Strings and Winds
Bohuslav Martinu
Les Rondes, for Strings, Winds and Piano
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A master at combining technical wizardry and musical fluidity, Paul Contos has been a favorite of local music fans and jazz aficionados for over twenty-five years. A woodwind and saxophone artist extraordinaire, he continues to impress audiences with his virtuosity, versatility, clarity, and warmth of sound. Paul is a faculty member of both CA State Univ. Monterey Bay and the Univ. of CA Santa Cruz. Paul has been the saxophone clinician for Monterey Jazz Festival since 1984, and is also director of both the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (a national group of All-Star high school musicians) and the Monterey Jazz Festival County All-Stars. Both groups tour internationally in Europe and Japan annually. Paul Contos is consistently featured as performer, clinician, and guest |
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| Paul Contos | artist in the U.S., Brazil, Europe, Canada, Japan, and the Pacific. Since | |||
| 2005 Paul has performed in New York, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Croatia, | ||||
| Italy, Tahiti, and Monterey. He has recorded with: Peter Erskine, John | ||||
Patitucci, Charlie Haden, John Abercrombie, Terence Blanchard, Don Cherry, David Liebman, Richie Beirach, Alex Acuña, Alan Broadbent, Billy Hart, Ray Drummond, Kenneth Nash, and many others. Paul has performed at international jazz festivals and venues with: Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Louie Bellson, Billy Childs, Wayne Shorter, Joe Williams, John Hendricks, Mundell Lowe, Bill Berry, Bruce Forman, Terumasa Hino, and many others. Paul has received three performer's grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, been an Artist-In-Residence and on the touring roster for the California Arts Council, and is a member of the International Association of Jazz Educators. |
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