The North State Symphony
OK, so it’s an orchestra, not a band. Perhaps I should have written, "Best music ensemble around."
The point is, when these dozens of professional and semi-professional musicians gather for a concert, it’s a high-quality evening.
Under the direction of Kyle Wiley Pickett, the symphony continues to be accessible, interesting and stellar.
The North State Symphony opens its 2009-10 season at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 26) at the Cascade Theatre with a concert entitled "Icons." The evening will feature music by jazz great Duke Ellington, "Night Creature,"; a piano concerto by Aram Khachaturian featuring NSS Young Artist winner Jeremiah Trujillo; and arguably the most familiar piece of classical music in the world, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
Jeremiah Trujillo
On Friday (Sept. 25), the symphony will present a special youth concert featuring Dr. Noize (Cory Cullinan), whose music has appeared in documentary soundtracks and films shown from the Sundance Film Festival to PBS to Air Force training sessions. Tickets are just $4 for the 10 a.m. kids concert.
On Saturday, the orchestra will open with the Ellington piece and will actually become a band. The orchestra will be joined by the Chico Jazz X-Press, Chico State University’s top jazz group.
Duke Ellington
In program notes for the show, Wiley Pickett mentions that Ellington’s goal with the three-movement "Night Creature" was to "make the symphony swing." It’s a blend of night club and symphonic music. Ellington didn’t see himself as strictly a jazz composer, but as a writer of American music that he wanted to be great.
"The audience is going to love it. It’s definitely a crowd-pleasing thing," Wiley Pickett said Monday night. "What I like about it is it’s not pandering at all. This is really American art music. It’s a concert piece that’s meant to be done in a concert hall. It swings. It’s got a great tenor sax solo, a great piano solo."
When asked if a classical orchestra can actually swing, Wiley Pickett laughed.
"It’s kind of a running joke that when you ask string players to swing, they don’t know what to do," he said. "Orchestras aren’t asked to swing very often, but they can do it when they’re asked to. This is just a really cool piece and to have the full power of the orchestra and the full power of the jazz band, it’s an unusual sound that’s really lush and has this magnificent quality to it."
Jeremiah Trujillo, a Redding-based pianist who is attending Cal State Dominguez Hills, was one of the symphony’s two Young Artist winners. Although in college, Trujillo is only 16. He has studied under Redding instructor Ron Cole.
"He’s got a lot of chops, particularly for a 16-year-old," Wiley Pickett said. "This is a big piece. It’s exciting and starts with a big bang. I think people are going to be pretty impressed."
As for Beethoven’s Fifth, which will close out the concert, who hasn’t heard the powerful opening notes: "Buh buh buh Bummm"?
"It’s one of the few pieces I’ve done several times, but it’s kind of revealing. When I sit down to study it, I find new stuff about about this piece every time," Wiley Pickett said. "From a musically technical standpoint, it was really revolutionary. The entire thing spins out of those first eight notes. Beethoven was at the height of his powers when he wrote it. He created something that goes from the darkness to light with those eight notes."
For ticket information, visit the Cascade Theatre’s website .
