Orchestra Victoria and Melbourne International Jazz Festival Present

Rhapsody in Blue at 100: a Celebration of Orchestral Jazz

Melbourne / Naarm
Saturday 26 October 2024, 7:30pm

Hamer Hall
Arts Centre Melbourne, Southbank

Duration
2 hours (including interval)
Ticket Price Range
$89 - $129

Three masters of orchestral jazz—Gershwin, Jobim, and Chick Corea—brought together for a very special evening at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, with Orchestra Victoria and a remarkable line-up of Melbourne and Tokyo’s finest musicians. Orchestra Victoria are joined in this exclusive program by GRAMMY-nominated Japanese piano virtuoso Makoto Ozone and local Brazilian music exponents Panorama Brasil, as they take you on a journey through the 20th century’s most iconic works.

When a 26-year-old George Gershwin put pen to paper 100 years ago, he couldn’t have imagined that his concerto Rhapsody in Blue would be selling out concert halls a century later, much less that his work would change the way the world thought about orchestral music and viewed the concept of the American Composer. A true pioneer, Gershwin’s masterpiece moves seamlessly between the disciplines of classical music and the-then emerging sounds of jazz.

Composed half a century later, Chick Corea’s beloved composition Spain undeniably grows from the groundwork laid by Gershwin. Leading the orchestra through the sounds of Spain, New York and Latin America in this GRAMMY-winning masterpiece will be Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone—a friend and collaborator of the great Chick Corea himself, and featured soloist with orchestras around the world including the New York Philharmonic.

Like Gershwin, Antônio Carlos Jobim reimagined the sound of a nation, merging the Brazilian samba tradition with jazz to create the distinctly Brazilian sound of bossa nova—earning him the nickname “The Godfather of Bossa Nova”. Performing selections of his vast repertoire, Panorama Brasil join forces with Orchestra Victoria and conductor Jessica Gethin, to saunter through the clubs of 1960s Rio De Janeiro.

Presented in partnership with Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Production Credits

Artists
Orchestra Victoria
Jessica Gethin - Conductor
Makoto Ozone
Panorama Brasil

Production Partners

Guest Artists

Meet the Guest Conductor and Soloists joining us for the performance

Photo and biography supplied by the artist

Jessica Gethin - Guest Conductor

Award winning Australian conductor Jessica Gethin has gained widespread attention for her stellar musicianship and vibrant energy on the podium. As one of the most versatile conductors in the country, Jessica glides seamlessly between core symphonic repertoire to ballet, opera, contemporary and film score. Jessica’s international roster includes engagements with the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Dallas Opera, Orchestra Victoria, Perth Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Tasmanian Symphony, Opera Queensland, Orchestra Macao, the West Australian Ballet and The Australian Ballet among others. Jessica is currently the Principal Conductor of the West Australian Ballet, Artistic Advisor of Orchestra Victoria and Head of Orchestral Studies and Conducting at the WA Academy of Performing Arts. From 2011-2019 Jessica was the Chief Conductor of the Perth Symphony and is now Ambassador and lead faculty for their Women on the Podium initiative.

Her accolades include being listed in Limelight Australia’s Top 20 Artists and AFR’s 100 Most Influential Women of Australia, a winner of the Brian Stacey Emerging Australian Conductor Award, a Churchill Fellow and inaugural Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute Fellow, a finalist in the West Australian of the Year Awards and induction into the 2024 WA Women's Hall of Fame.

Koto 1dx1706 credit kazashito nakamura 640x640

Makoto Ozone

Makoto Ozone is a unique force in both jazz and classical music, blending sound worlds and a host of influences into his performances. Born in Kobe, Japan, he was self-taught in jazz, under his father’s guidance, first on the organ, then piano. He first came to public attention when he gave his solo recital at the Carnegie Hall in 1983, following his graduation from Berklee College of Music. Ozone then became the first Japanese artist to sign an exclusive contract with CBS and released his first album, Ozone, a year after his Carnegie debut.

His stellar career in jazz, which earned him a Grammy nomination in 2003, has brought him regularly to the forefront of the international jazz scene, recording and touring with musicians such as Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera, Anna Maria Jopek, Branford Marsalis, and others. In 2004, he formed his own big band in Japan, “No Name Horses” which has regularly toured to Europe, North America and Asia since its creation. In more recent years, Ozone has expanded into classical repertoire, alongside his jazz engagements. Having first performed Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue in 1996, he now performs concertos by Mozart, Bernstein, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov with major orchestras. Alongside his performing schedule, Ozone composes music, with over 300 pieces to his name, many for ‘No Name Horses’, as well as a symphony and piano concerto.

Recent highlights include Ozone’s debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Lahav Shani, Detroit Symphony Orchestra / Leonard Slatkin and Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra / Christian Arming. This season, Ozone will perform with Stuttgarter Philharmoniker / Dan Ettinger, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony / Alan Gilbert, as well as performing with his jazz trio in New York and Toronto.

Panorama Brasil

Panorama Brasil draws on the diverse musical landscape of Brazil: music with influences from the arid interior, the Amazonian basin, and the streets of Rio and Salvador - samba, MPB, bossa, folkloric music and regional styles mixed with jazz and more.

Musical director of Panorama Brasil is drummer/composer Alastair Kerr, a long-time student of Brazilian music, and recognised as one of Australia's leading exponents of Brazilian percussion. Kerr is known for his work with groups such as The Doug de Vries Trio, The New Sheiks, Sexteto Zona Sul, and Trio Agogo, and leads this stellar group.

Panorama Brasil have performed at major festivals, including the 2013 Melbourne International Jazz Festival, 2014 Stonnington Jazz Festival, 2015 Adelaide Cabaret Festival (with Vince Jones and Alda Rezende), and 2017 Melbourne International Jazz Festival (with Vince Jones and Doug de Vries). In 2017 they performed a sold-out Melbourne Recital Centre concert of Os Afro Sambas (with Alda Rezende), and they returned to the MRC in 2018 with Brazil's Modern Poets. Alda Rezende returns to Australia in 2023 another tour of Os Afro Sambas.