“NBC Saturday Night Live” Star and Fireworks Celebrate the Fourth of July

Posted by TBN_News On 06/29/2015

The Chesapeake Orchestra will celebrate Independence Day on July 3 with a slice of music as American as apple pie at St. Mary’s College of Maryland topped off with fireworks. The free concert is headlined by “NBC Saturday Night Live” star, Lawrence Feldman. Movie scores from the iconic American films, Superman and Star Wars, will be performed along with Marches by John Philip Sousa and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

Photo Credit: Chesapeake Orchestra

Leonardtown - The Chesapeake Orchestra will celebrate the Fourth of July by continuing the River Concert Series on July 3 with a slice of music as American as apple pie. The free concert is headlined by NBC Saturday Night Live Star, Lawrence Feldman,who will perform 1950s era bebop and jazz music. Movie scores from the iconic American films, Superman and Star Wars, will be performed along with Marches by John Philip Sousa and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture under Jeffrey Silberschlag, director and conductor of the Chesapeake Orchestra. The gates open at 5 pm with the concert beginning at 7 pm and ending with a fireworks display. A new concert will be held every Friday through July 24th on the Townhouse Green of St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Concert guests who attend this event are encouraged to bring their own picnic or purchase food from various vendors. For more information about the concerts, or to sponsor this local tradition, visit www.chesapeakeorchestra.org or call 301-848-5309.

“Lawrence Feldman, an original member of the NBC Saturday Night Live Band and iconic jazz musician, will perform 50’s bebop era jazz by American jazz star Charlie Parker, and other jazz songs composed by African Americans with Latin American influences,” said Silberschlag. “This concert puts together jazz and its African American and Latin American roots, with iconic American movies, Superman and Star Wars. Like a recipe, these vastly different elements will come together to create a big bite of music as American as apple pie.”

The program for this concert, “Superman, Sousa “Saturday Night Live” and Fireworks,” includes: Jazz and Pop standards from Feldman, Williams’ movie scores for Superman and Star Wars, Marches by John Philip Sousa and the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky. The night will end with fireworks.

Lawrence Feldman, an original member of the NBC Saturday Night Live Band and widely acclaimed saxophonist and will bring saxophone legend Charles Parker’s bebop and Latin American music to the stage. Since the mid-1970s Feldman has performed with The National Jazz Ensemble and collaborated with musical legends ranging from Frank Sinatra to Barbara Streisand. Williams has also flexed his classical music muscles through performances with the New York Philharmonic, Concordia, the New Jersey Symphony and the American Ballet Theater.

Legendary African American saxophonist, Charlie Parker, was known for inventing bebop music along with his musical partner Dizzy Gillespie. Bebop is a style of jazz music that commands the audience’s attention with its fast tempo and improvisation of the harmonic structure of a song. Parker discovered jazz music in Kansas City, Kansas and began performing on the alto saxophone in the 1930s, beginning his successful career which led to several of his songs being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a unique way for musicians to express themselves.

Music by John Williams, the highly acclaimed American composer of scores from iconic American movies such as Superman and the original Star Wars trilogy, will also be performed. Williams has worked on almost eighty movie scores including the classic American films Jaws, the Indiana Jones series, and Schindler's List and wrote classical concert pieces for acclaimed musicians like Yo-Yo Ma and the London Symphony Orchestra. Williams’ extensive musical work, which helped create American cinema staples, won him 17 Grammys, three Golden Globes, and two Emmys among other prestigious awards.

As director and conductor of the Chesapeake Orchestra, Silberschlag’s broad experience within the musical world brings an understanding of the musical landscape of America to this concert and honors the nations cultural diversity. Silberschlag’s accomplishments includes guest conducting the London Symphony, London Philharmonic. St. Petersburg Soloists, Orchestra Filharmonici di Torino, Symphony Orchestra of Rumania, Bulgarian Philharmonic, La Scala Virtuosi, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Academy Chamber Orchestra. He has also collaborated with other professional musicians such as pianist Brian Ganz, Yi Jia Hou and Melissa Errico presented master classes at numerous Universities around the world and was named Music Director of the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore this past June.

Since its creation by Silberschlag in 1994 the Chesapeake Orchestra has brought their first-class professional music to over 400.000 people, won the Governor’s Tourism Impact Award and received many other accolades.

The aim of The River Concert Series is to provide a family friendly evening of inspiring music through the passion and expertise of the Chesapeake Orchestra and their famous guest musicians in a way that brings world-renowned music to thousands of people in Southern Maryland through July 24th.

Sponsors of this concert are Smartronix, Inc and Taylor Gas. Corporate sponsors of the 2015 series include American Federation of Musicians Music Performance Trust Fun, Arts Alliance of St. Mary’s College Maryland, BAE Systems, Chesapeake Orchestra Club Members, Maryland State Arts Council, River Concert Series Audience, St. Mary’s Arts Council, Slack Winery, Southern Maryland Publishing, Wyle, and Yamaha Pianos.

For more information about the concerts, or to be a sponsor of this unique Southern Maryland tradition, go to www.chesapeakeorchestra.org or call 301-848-5309. You may also visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ChesapeakeOrchestra

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