Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Swing, Swing, Swing takes the audience on a wonderful journey through orchestral jazz, under the direction of Boston Pops' conductor Keith Lockhart, and featuring jazz genius James Morrison. The concert includes the new work Made in Heaven by Brenton Broadstock, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's Composer in Residence for 2009.

While the vivid street scenes and homesick blues of Gershwin's An American in Paris need no introduction, George Antheil's Jazz Symphony is far less familiar. An amazingly vibrant piece even today, some moments look ahead to the post-bebop 'free' jazz of the 60s. Leonard Bernstein said that ‘improvisation is the real core of all jazz.’ His Prelude, Fugue and Riffs fuses the baroque concerto grosso with a modern jazz vibe in a way that's irresistibly exhilarating.

The approach taken by two of today's composers to the history of jazz could not be more different: John Williams wrote his rousing pastiche of the Benny Goodman epic Sing, Sing, Sing for a fight scene in Steven Spielberg's gigantic comedy 1941; Brenton Broadstock's piece is a poetic tribute to one of the greatest of all jazz albums, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2009.

Featured non-Australian music: Williams, Antheil, Bernstein, Gershwin, Ellington

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (03) 5225 1200

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• Performer Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor Keith Lockhart
• Performer James Morrison