Practically everyone has heard of Tchaikovksy’s “Nutcracker Suite” and it’s supposed to be performed at Christmas time, right?
Call it Christmas in April, because the famous music with movements named after waltzing flowers and a dancing sugar plum fairy will be performed April 21 by the Lake County Symphony Orchestra.
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And it will be a lot jazzier.
That’s because this concert is the annual Mark Rymer tribute, which features the Mark Rymer Jazz Ensemble. For the concert, orchestra conductor Ron Arden has chosen a theme of “Tchaikovsky Meets Ellington.”
Pytor Tchaikovsky, a famous Russian composer, wrote “Nutcracker Suite” in 1892. Duke Ellington, the consummate pianist, arranger and director of big bands, arranged the “Nutcracker Suite” in 1960 for big band, with inspiration from saxophone great Billy Strayhorn.
Composer and conductor Jeff Tyzik asked Ellington if he could arrange five of the movements for small jazz combo and symphony orchestra — and that’s what the audience will hear at the Rymer concert, among other pieces.
The orchestra will play an original Tchaikovsky movement, followed by the jazz ensemble and orchestra arrangement by Ellington/Tyzik. For example, the orchestra will play “Dance of the Reed Pipes” by Tchaikovsky, which Ellington arranged and called “Toot Toot Tooty Toot,” and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” which Ellington arranged under the name “The Sugar Rum Cherry.”
In the pieces, the saxophone has all the lead melody lines, and that prompted Tony Kidonakis, leader of the Mark Rymer Jazz Ensemble, to perform on saxophone instead of the piano, which he typically plays with the group. Kidonakis teaches at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago.
Kidonakis was friends with Rymer, a graduate of Zion-Benton Township High School, Northern Illinois University and VanderCook College of Music, and principal trumpeter with the Lake County Symphony Orchestra, then known as FullScore Orchestra. Rymer died in 2011, at age 34.
The group created the tribute concert, which they perform for free.
The concerts were typically half jazz and half classical, because Rymer equally liked and taught both musical styles, Arden said.
Arden said he’s wanted to meld the orchestra and jazz ensemble together somehow. “This is the perfect way to start out,” he said.
Rymer taught band at Zion-Benton Township High School for nine years, inspiring many including Arden’s son, who now plays saxophone with the Marine Corps Band in Okinawa, Japan.
At each concert, the orchestra awards a scholarship to a Zion-Benton Township High School senior who has been accepted to a music program at a college, Arden said.
The Rymer Jazz Ensemble will also play three Ellington tunes at the concert including “Such Sweet Thunder,” “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me,” and “Take the A Train.”
“The big takeaway from the Rymer event has been: People who come to hear jazz say ‘I like classical musical better than I thought I did’ and people who come to hear classical music say ‘I like jazz better than I thought I did,'” Arden said. “Not only are we celebrating the energy of Mark and his life and how many people he influenced, and what an ambassador of the arts he was, but we’re also educating people … there’s always some really good energy happening at this concert.”
“So put on your favorite Christmas sweater,” Arden said. “You’re going to hear really incredible music.”
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Mary Rymer Tribute concert
When: 7:30 p.m. April 21
Where: Village Church, 1319 Hunt Club Road, Gurnee
Tickets: $15 advance; $18 at door; ages 12 and under free
Information: 847-746-3472; www.lakecountysymphonyorchestra.com More Top Picks Awnings Car