FullScore Chamber Orchestra presents its sixth annual Mark Rymer Tribute concert, and it continues to be popular, said director Ron Arden.
“People are devoted to promoting the orchestra through Mark’s Rymer’s name,” he said.
Rymer, a graduate of Zion-Benton Township High School and Northern Illinois University, auditioned for and was chosen as principal trumpeter with FullScore, only to pass away about a month later on April 25, 2011, at the age of 34, Arden said.
Rymer received a master’s degree from VanderCook College and taught band at Zion Benton-High School for nine years, inspiring many including Arden’s son, who now plays saxophone with the Marine Corps Band in Okinawa, Japan.
“Mark’s energy and passion for music was infectious,” Arden said.
In keeping with tradition, the tribute concert, scheduled for April 22, will include familiar classical as well as jazz music featuring trumpet, the instrument Rymer played.
“The concert is an opportunity for an orchestra to do half jazz, half classical. It’s extremely unique,” Arden said. “We’re capitalizing on Mark’s personality and musicianship, on the diversity of his musical gifts.”
The orchestra will begin with Prelude to Meistersinger, an opera written by Richard Wagner.
“It’s a really big work and features a lot of brass,” Arden said. “Mark loved the big romantic works.”
Wagner wrote very long operas, at least three hours each, and he also wrote overtures to the operas that act as stand-alone pieces for orchestras to perform. Wagner used a lot of brass and his compositional style was “extremely dramatic and romantic,” Arden said.
The concert will also feature Gregory Strauss, the first chair trumpet player for FullScore. Strauss will perform Alexander Arutunian’s Trumpet Concerto in A-flat major
“It’s a huge well-known work for trumpet, also extremely romantic and dramatic,” Arden said. “It’s a tour de force for trumpet. It opens with a huge fanfare and has a lot of technical passages. He’s going to play it from memory.”
Filling out the second half will be the Mark Rymer Jazz Ensemble, a group of local teachers and performers who join annually to prepare for the tribute concert.
Tony Kidonakis, who teaches jazz at the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, serves as director of the Mark Rymer Jazz Ensemble.
The ensemble will perform Harry Connick Jr. charts. “He was Mark’s favorite jazz artist,” Arden said. “Mark used to play and sing jazz himself. We’ve been wanting to do this for several years,” said Arden of doing Connick Jr. music. He and Kidonakis will add their singing talents to the concert, something new this year, Arden said..
In addition, the group will perform a piece featuring eight Star Trek themes, all of which people will recognize, Arden said. That piece came at the request of Rymer’s son, Lucas, now nearly 8 years old.
Rymer played baseball, basketball and golf and took piano and trumpet lessons while attending Zion-Benton. He majored in music education at NIU, where he became the drum major and also played with the jazz band and wind ensemble. He taught at Lake Bluff Elementary School, then returned to his alma mater to teach and start a jazz band. He received his advanced degree in music education from VanderCook in Chicago.
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Mark Rymer Tribute/FullScore Chamber Orchestra
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When: 7:30 p.m., April 22
Where: Village Church, 1319 Hunt Club Road, Gurnee
Tickets: $15 advance; $18 at door’ ages 12 and under are free
Information: 847-746-3472; www.fullscore.org