SEATTLE SYMPHONY SUMMERFEST Mark O'Connor, Festival Director
MARK O'CONNOR AND THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY TEAMED UP FOR SUMMERFEST IN SEATTLE, SUMMER OF 2008
Welcome to the Seattle Symphony's "SummerFest!" It is a great pleasure to be the
Festival Director and to return to my hometown of Seattle, a place where I was born and spent my formative years. I have had the great fortune of performing
my compositions with the Seattle Symphony in years past and adding my
performances to each season at the fabulous Benaroya Hall since its opening.
Over the years I thought how great it would be to help create a music festival
that combined the best of classical, jazz and folk music in a summer festival
setting hosted by the great Seattle Symphony. We have accomplished just that at
SummerFest.
I have invited some of the greatest musicians in the world who are known for their boundary-crossing musical imagination and innovation to join us. I invite all of you to take one incredible musical journey for a few weeks, exploring new music projects, celebrating the great music traditions and enjoying some performances by some of the best musicians in the world.
Our festival features an extraordinary line up for our inaugural. Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Jazz Band, Earl Scruggs and Béla Fleck together, and Gerard Schwartz conducting Mahler performed by the Seattle Symphony are just a few of our festival's highlights. Regarding my own festival performances, I am looking forward to the Northwest premiere of my "Double Concerto for Violin and Cello" (For the Heroes) with the dynamic cellist Maya Beiser and the Seattle Symphony. I am also bringing my "Hot Swing," too, along with mandolin wizard Chris Thile for an evening of some hot picking!
Thanks for your support while we spread the word around the country that July in
Seattle is a very good place to be! We want to make some music history with this festival, a music model that is brand new and cutting edge. I for one, am glad that it is beginning right here in my hometown of Seattle. Thank you for coming... and enjoy!
Mark O'Connor
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2008 Roster
Wagner and Mahler performed by the Seattle Symphony
Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Plus Punch Brothers with Chris Thile and Sophie Milman
The Blue Planet Live!: A Natural History of the Oceans performed by the Seattle Symphony
Mark O'Connor & Maya Beiser: "For the Heroes" with the Seattle Symphony
Tiny Tots Children's Show with Mark O' Connor
Cirque de la Symphonie performed by the Seattle Symphony
Earl Scruggs and Friends with Abigail Washburn's Sparrow Quartet featuring Béla Fleck
