SOUNDINGS 2015-2016 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 1

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IGUDESMAN & JOO: BIG NIGHTMARE MUSIC

COLORADO SYMPHONY ANDREW LITTON, conductor

ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN, violin

HYUNG-KI JOO, piano

Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 7:30 pmBoettcher Concert Hall

IGUDESMAN & JOO: BIG Nightmare Music Written & Conceived by Aleksey Igudesman & Hyung-ki Joo

MOZART/MONTY NORMAN From Mozart With Love arr. Igudesman

MOZART Alla Molto Turca arr. Igudesman & Joo

RACHMANINOV/ERIC CARMEN Rachmaninov By Himself arr. Joo

JOSEPH FRIZELL KERR New Work

ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN Funk the String

STRAUSS, J. JR. A Very Blue Danube arr. Schulz-Evler & Igudesman

ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN Uruguay

— INTERMISISON —

BILL CONTI/ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN Gonna Fly Now

HYUNG-KI JOO Chandeliers

ENNIO MORRICONE Fistful Of Dollars arr. Igudesman & Joo

TRADITIONAL Practice Time Arr. Igudesman & Joo

KREISLER Tambourin Chinois arr. Igudesman

RACHMANINOV Prelude in C-sharp minor

FERREN/GAYNOR/PEKARIS I Will Survive IGUDESMAN/JOO

and maybe more…

POPS BIOGRAPHIESANDREW LITTON, conductor

Colorado Symphony Music Director Andrew Litton is the newly appointed Music Director of the New York City Ballet. Mr. Litton also serves as Bergen Philharmonic Music Director Laureate, Artistic Director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest, and Conductor Laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He guest conducts the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies, and has a discography of over 120 recordings with awards including America’s Grammy, France’s Diapason d’Or, and many other honors. Besides his Grammy®-winning Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast

with Bryn Terfel and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, he also recorded the complete symphonies by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, a Mahler cycle with the Dallas Symphony, and many Gershwin recordings as both conductor and pianist. Mr. Litton is a graduate of the Fieldston School, New York, and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in piano and conducting. The youngest-ever winner of the BBC International Conductors Competition, he served as Assistant Conductor at Teatro alla Scala and Exxon/Arts Endowment Assistant Conductor for the National Symphony under Rostropovich. His many honors in addition to Norway’s Order of Merit include an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bournemouth, Yale University’s Sanford Medal, and the Elgar Society Medal. An accomplished pianist, Litton often conducts from the keyboard and enjoys performing chamber music with his orchestra colleagues. For further information, visit www.andrewlitton.com.

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Carnival of the Animals and the Story of BabarMAR 13 T SUN 1:00Andres Lopera, conductor SAINT-SAËNS Carnival of the Animals POULENC The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant

coloradosymphony.org T 303.623.7876

BOX OFFICE MON-FRI 10 AM - 6 PM T SAT 12 PM - 6 PM

SOUNDINGS 2015-2016 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG PROGRAM 3

ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN, violin

Best known as a violinist and composer, Aleksey Igudesman has also established himself as an actor, comedian and filmmaker. His music has earned admiration for capturing the essence of diverse musical languages in a uniquely clever and joyful way. Igudesman attended the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, England. There he met Hyung-ki Joo, his comedy partner-to-be, bonding over a mutual passion for dead composers and deadpan humor. He later studied under Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatoire. The violinist has enjoyed a successful career playing, composing, and arranging for his string trio Triology, recording several CDs for BMG, teaching master classes, and performing with Bobby McFerrin, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Joshua Bell, Gidon Kremer, Sir Roger Moore and John Malkovich, among others. Igudesman also directed, produced and starred in the feature-length mockumentary “Noseland,” an award winner at the Doc Miami International Film Festival. As a composer, Igudesman has written pieces performed by ensembles and orchestras worldwide—including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He has frequently collaborated with Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer on movies, including “Sherlock Holmes,” nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score, and “Jealous of the Birds,” which won Best Original Score at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. He is one half of the deliciously daft Igudesman & Joo, whose inspired silliness can start with Rachmaninov or Liszt and find its way through martial arts, movie classics, rock, hip hop, folk, heavy metal, disco and step dancing. Sketches from their concert shows shredding the classical canon have gone viral on YouTube, with some 40 million views.

HYUNG-KI JOO, piano

Pianist and composer Hyung-ki Joo has appeared as a soloist and in chamber ensembles worldwide, with works performed by such renowned orchestras as the New York Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. Enrolled at age 10 at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, England, Joo studied composition with Simon Parkin and Malcolm Singer. It was while attending the music academy that he and eventual comic partner violinist Aleksey Igudesman discovered a shared passion for Mahler and Monty Python, interests that helped inspire the tandems’ work in concert comedy. Joo made his musical debut at Barbican Hall, with the Warsaw Sinfonia conducted by Sir Yehudi Menuhin. The Grand Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition, Joo has worked with Academy® Award winning composer Vangelis. Rock legend Billy Joel chose him to arrange and record “Fantasies and Delusions,” a classical album of Joel solo piano pieces that was No. 1 on the Billboard charts. He has performed at the White House and co-founded a piano trio with violinist Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne and cellist Thomas Carroll. He is one-half of the wickedly inventive Igudesman & Joo, who use pop culture, comedy, and slapstick to transform concert stages into musical funhouses. The pair’s uproarious sketches have attracted a wide YouTube following, with some 40 million views. Joo has appeared in several films including, “Pianomania,” “Noseland,” and “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Classical Music” and performed with such classical heavyweights as Joshua Bell, Gidon Kremer and Emanuel Ax and actors Roger Moore and John Malkovich.

POPS BIOGRAPHIES

PROGRAM 4 SOUNDINGS 2015-2016 | COLORADOSYMPHONY.ORG

IGUDESMAN & JOO: “BIG NIGHTMARE MUSIC”Igudesman & Joo’s musical madness on a symphonic scale

When Igudesman & Joo perform with a symphony orchestra, the musical nightmares take on epic proportions! Fans of “A Little Nightmare Music” will be falling all over themselves to experience their favorites Mozart Bond, Alla Molto Turca and Practice Time amped up for a full-blown orchestra. But on top of a few priceless adaptations of pieces from their duo-show, “BIG Nightmare Music” boasts uproarious sketches tailor-made for a symphony orchestra, drawing everyone into their act, from the first violinist to the last percussionist. “BIG Nightmare Music” is the kind of show where musicians on stage have at least as much fun as the audience.

Igudesman & Joo have mastered the art of mashing up classical music masterpieces and famous folk and pop songs. In “BIG Nightmare Music” they can make use of a whole orchestra to live out their creativity. Igudesman acts as Latin-American charmer while the orchestra effortlessly changes from ballads to groovy salsa rhythms, providing the base for a virtuous improvised violin solo. Joo teaches the audience and his fellow musicians on stage how to play Johann Strauss’ Blue Danube if you want to be successful in classical music. What’s more, you will have the added opportunity of hearing Igudesman and Joo perform as soloists, both in well-known concertos and in their own orchestral works. IIgudesman & Joo are always too BIG for any stage but now picture the duo in Wonderland after eating that cake which makes you grow… A scary thought? There you have it: “BIG Nightmare Music”!

The show includes music by Mozart, Rachmaninov, Bach, Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven, Igudesman, Joo.

POPS PROGRAM NOTES

A Symphonic Tribute to Mel BrooksAPR 9 T SAT 7:30Andres Lopera, conductor Devin DeSantis, vocalist Colorado Symphony Chorus, Mary Louise Burke, associate director

coloradosymphony.org T 303.623.7876

BOX OFFICE MON-FRI 10 AM - 6 PM T SAT 12 PM - 6 PM