In their first performance of the season, the University Symphony Orchestra is excited to present the Katrina Concerto for guitar and orchestra, composed by TTU Music Faculty and Composer-Guitarist D. J. Sparr, and featuring jazz guitarist Ted Ludwig as the guest soloist. Following the Concerto, the performance will conclude with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
About the Composer:
Texas Tech University School of Music Instructor of Composition D. J. Sparr is one of America's preeminent composer-performers. His music has caught the attention of critics with his eclectic style, described as "pop-Romantic ... iridescent and wondrous" (The Mercury News) and "suits the boundary-erasing spirit of today's new-music world" (The New York Times). In 2011, Sparr was named one of NPR Music listeners' "favorite composers under 40."
About the Concerto and the Guest Artist:
This is the Southwest Premiere of "Concerto for Jazz Guitar and Orchestra: Katrina" written for jazz guitar guru Ted Ludwig who is in residence at the TTU School of Music.
The premiere performance was described by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: "Ludwig's playing was, as always, brilliant, a sort of a center of calm in the midst of an orchestral part through which Sparr tone-paints Ludwig's own journey, from a clear but menacing day in New Orleans through the storm, its exceedingly eerie aftermath and finally Ludwig's landing in Little Rock. The orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Philip Mann, provided waves of sound and some fun battery sound and visual effects in the midst of the noisy storm."
Admission is free and open to the public!
