Orchestra Iowa celebrating milestones with jazz twist

Orchestra Iowa is ready to paint the town red, with “Rhapsody in Blue” and all that jazz, during a pair of season-opening concerts titled “A Night on the Town.”

Pianist Stewart Goodyear returns Saturday night in Cedar Rapids and Sunday afternoon in Coralville to blaze through George Gershwin’s signature song, followed by the Menefield/Phillips Quartet anchoring Gershwin’s “I’ve Got Rhythm.”

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As if those stars weren’t enough, the orchestra’s new celesta will be making its grand debut in the finale piece, William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American.”

“In addition to his many talents as a composer, W.G. Still was also a masterful orchestrator who fully utilized the orchestral colors available to him by including the beautiful yet obscure instrument called a celesta,” Maestro Timothy Hankewich told The Gazette in a recent email interview.

More landmarks

“Speaking of which: Hallelujah, our new celesta is here,” he exclaimed, financed through a $60,000 fund drive. “Thank you to all the many people who donated to this wonderful cause to enable us to purchase this essential instrument. I’m happy to report, thanks to your overwhelming support, it is 100 percent paid for. You must come to this concert to hear our new baby sing its first notes. It’s beautiful.”

Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Town” opens the show, and Still’s symphony will bring it all home. It’s a piece Orchestra Iowa describes as a “landmark composition (that) influenced Gershwin, who in turn inspired Bernstein.”

The event has landmarks to spare.

Orchestra Iowa, just coming off its centennial season in 2022-23, is embracing the 100th anniversary of “Rhapsody in Blue,” and the 50th year for local jazz station KCCK 88.3.

“What a beautiful way to wish (KCCK) a happy birthday with this program,” Hankewich said.

And launching a season means finding the right rhythm.

Musical influences

“I designed this concert to set the tone for the entire season — one of energy, surprise, innovation, and yes, accessibility,” Hankewich said. “And since Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ turns 100 this year, we’ve got a piece on our hands that really starts our season with a bang.

“The goal of this kind of programming is to break down the barriers that tend to discourage potential new audiences who tend to believe — mistakenly — that classical music is elitist or has nothing to do with them. Not too long ago, symphonic and popular music in America were not so far apart.

“In the 1930s, a fusion of concert stage music with Broadway and emerging jazz led to a uniquely American sound, which led us to the music of Gershwin and Bernstein. This is a heritage we too often forget. But with the passage of time, we also tend to overlook other American masters who contributed to our musical fabric like William Grant Still, who was their contemporary.”

Hankewich and company are giving the audience “a festive splash” with the opening number and its history.

“One of Bernstein’s first compositions was a ballet called ‘Fancy Free,’ which immediately was converted into a musical and then a film called ‘On the Town,’ ” Hankewich said. “Everybody will recognize the famous tune ‘New York, New York.’ ”

But in this instance, think “it’s a wonderful town,” not the Sinatra standard with the same name but a decidedly different wind up in melody, rhythm and lyrics.

In a concert that weaves together musical influences, Hankewich said the opening number also will “point out that Bernstein inherited the legacy of Gershwin and others in his fusion of jazz, Broadway and classical music.”

And all that jazz

Bringing back Toronto-native Stewart Goodyear, whose piano artistry dazzled audiences in 2021 on Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto, also displays musical crossover appeal.

“Stewart Goodyear is one of the leading Beethoven specialists in the world,” Hankewich said. “So what is he doing playing Gershwin? Listen to his recording of it and you’ll find out why pretty quickly. He’s a consummate artist and he brings a welcome freshness to this classic. Plus, fun-fact, he has a deep interest in calypso, which also had a strong influence in the American musical tapestry.”

Written in 1924, as the Jazz Age was in full swing, what makes “Rhapsody in Blue” such an iconic piece 100 years later?

“How any piece achieves iconic popularity is beyond me,” Hankewich said. “What makes ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ so great is due to many things: fabulous melodies and craftsmanship, virtuosic piano writing that rivals anything European composers were writing at the time, and a fusion of styles where the audiences could hear their own cultural identity included in the art — namely, jazz, Broadway and klezmer integrated with European symphonic tradition.

“When we get to the William Grant Still symphony later on in the program, you can also add the ‘spiritual’ as part of that American musical melting pot.”

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The concert also shines a spotlight on an ensemble headed by two University of Iowa professors: saxophonist Damani Phillips and jazz pianist and composer William Menefield.

“I am most excited about the Menefield/Phillips Quartet joining us on stage,” Hankewich said. “I’ve known Damani for a long time and have been racking my brains for years on how I could feature him in our programming. William Menefield is a fairly recent addition to our area’s musical family, and this program is a perfect way to welcome him to the neighborhood.

“I wanted to make a musical statement that what you hear at symphony concerts aren’t just museum pieces, but rather a legacy of a living, breathing art form,” Hankewich said. “Jazz is such an integral building block of American music in general, and this concert in particular.

“One of the many great aspects of jazz is its ability to reinvent itself, and to create new sounds from older classics — pouring new wine into old bottles if you will. ‘I Got Rhythm’ is the glue that holds this entire program together. First, I wanted a modern take on an old classic, and I’ve asked the quartet to really make it their own. Secondly, ‘I Got Rhythm’ was the hit song from Gershwin’s musical ‘Girl Crazy,’ which debuted in 1930.

“William Grant Still’s ‘Afro-American’ Symphony was also written in 1930. But here’s the kicker: Gershwin made a lot of money off ‘I Got Rhythm,’ but that melodic lick was in fact the invention, and musical calling card, of William Grant Still. If you heard it at cocktail parties in the late ’20s early ’30s, the name ‘Still’ would have been foremost in people’s minds, not ‘Gershwin.’ So when we get to the third movement of Still’s symphony, guess what you’re going to hear in the background? ‘I.Got.Rhythm.’ ”

These musical selections also ask a lot of the orchestra.

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“Without a doubt, our brass and percussion get a bit of a workout for this program,” Hankewich said. “That’s not to say it’s easy for the strings either, but it forces everyone to be on top of their rhythmic game. I suppose the subtitle for this program could've been ‘I Got Rhythm,’ because rhythm is foundational to the American sound.”

And easy on the ears — especially those who might be reluctant to embrace an orchestral concert.

“Newcomers are often afraid to attend because of the unfamiliar,” Hankewich noted. “They are worried about not knowing the pieces or are afraid that they might not fit in because of the many stereotypical boogeyman tropes that are out there — some of which our industry sadly has earned over the years. I get it.

“The classical symphonic repertoire is so vast that even I haven’t experienced it all. But if you stick with it, eventually exposure to the new and unfamiliar becomes the ‘value added’ proposition of a classical concert. In this concert, however, everything you hear and experience will sound and feel very familiar, but with a subtle delicious twist.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com