Music fans everywhere can enjoy informal but authoritative discussions about jazz and classical music through two new online series presented by the Center for the Performing Arts.
Classics in Context, sponsored by Printing Partners, is an adaptation of the onsite presentations that traditionally precede classical concerts at the Palladium, with musicians and scholars offering insights into the history and the concepts behind the music.
JazzTalk, sponsored by Drewry Simmons Vornehm, is a new discussion series about the masters of jazz and their enduring legacies, hosted by Doug Tatum, former jazz radio host and current Vice President of Programming at the Center for the Performing Arts; and nationally known saxophonist Todd Williams, a veteran of the Wynton Marsalis Quintet/Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra who now teaches at Indiana Wesleyan University.
Both series are free of charge and available through Zoom teleconferencing, allowing viewers to listen and pose questions from the comfort and safety of home, or any convenient location.
Upcoming events include:
Classics in Context: “Classical” vs. “classical” Music with Dr. Charles P. Conrad
Conrad
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, at 7 p.m.
Available free through Zoom
Details and registration: TheCenterPresents.org/ClassicsConrad
Conrad, a trumpeter, conductor and founder of Center’s resident Indiana Wind Symphony, explains the distinction between classical music as a broad genre and the more narrowly-defined Classical period of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which included the works of such composers as Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.
JazzTalk: The Genius of Charlie Parker
Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020, at 7 p.m.
Available free through Zoom
Details and registration: TheCenterPresents.org/JazzTalkParker
Hosts Doug Tatum and Todd Williams mark the centennial of Charlie Parker’s birth by discussing the pioneering bebop saxophonist’s most memorable solos and the musical innovations that fueled his “genius” reputation.
Classics in Context: Beethoven and the Bass Connection with Professor David Murray
Murray
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, at 7 p.m.
Available free through Zoom
Registration and more information: TheCenterPresents.org/ClassicsMurray
Murray, director of the Butler University School of Music and principal bassist for the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, marks Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a discussion of the groundbreaking Ninth Symphony and the relationship between the composer and virtuoso bassist Domenico Dragonetti.
JazzTalk: Trailblazers
Williams
Tatum
Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, at 7 p.m.
Available free through Zoom
Details and registration: TheCenterPresents.org/JazzTalkTrailblazers
Hosts Doug Tatum and Todd Williams explore the legacies of four musicians and bandleaders who were pivotal in the development of jazz and continue to influence the form today: Clarinetist-saxophonist Sidney Bechet, trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Dave Brubeck and drummer Elvin Jones.