Leonard Slatkin and James Tocco in an American programme

The second part of the American series initiated by Leonard Slatkin live at the Auditorium de Lyon!

For his second inroad in American music, Leonard Slatkin gives a large outline of 20th century music, between the avant-guard (Ives, Rorem, McTee), Broadway (Gershwin) and Harlem (Ellington). The highlight of the concert will be the Symphony No. 2 by Leonard Bernstein. Composed in 1949 and adapted from a poem by William H. Auden, the Symphony is the first great masterpiece of the author of West side story, who conceived it for orchestra and piano.

For this concert, which is guaranteed to be festive, Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestre national de Lyon invited the Big Band de la Musique de l'Air (the jazz orchestra of the French Army Air Forces), and the American pianist James Tocco. James Tocco and Leonard Slatkin worked together several times in successful musical projects, notably for the recording of one of Bernstein's masterpieces, the Symphony No. 2, "Age of Anxiety", which is part of the concert's programme!

© Photo: Niko Rodamel