ROCO In Concert Series: Gitcha Groove On!

Conductor Andrés Cárdenes returns to open the ROCO In Concert Series – featuring the full 40-piece River Oaks Chamber Orchestra — with performances of a program titled Gitcha Groove On!, September 26th, 2015 at St. John the Divine, and September 27th, 2015 at Miller Outdoor Theater.

Pairing disparate musical styles like jazz and classical, “Gitcha Groove On!” takes its name from ROCO’s 44th world premiere commission of the same name by Rick Robinson, Music Alive: New Partnerships Composer-in-Residence (pictured, in his ROCO debut).

It’s a jazz-infused classical commission for the full orchestra plus trapset, the product of ROCO winning the New Music Box and ASCAP “Music Alive” Partnership award.

Cardénes has chosen to pair this piece with José Pablo Moncayo’s “Huapango,” a chamber orchestra piece based on folk songs from the composer’s native Mexico, and both Robinson and Moncayo have written pieces rooted in their respective heritages.  Poulenc’s “Sinfonietta” and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Much Ado About Nothing” complete the program.

The Residency of Mr. Robinson is made possible through Music Alive: New Partnerships, a residency program of New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras.

This national program is designed to establish new relationships between composers and orchestras, and to help orchestras present new music to the public and build support for new music within their institutions. Leadership funding for Music Alive is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund.

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