Grammy Award-winning conductor Jeff Tyzik celebrates 30 years at Bravo! Vail
June 30, 2024After entertaining Bravo! Vail audiences for three whole decades, Jeff Tyzik’s programs remain as exciting and innovative as ever. On July 1 and 4, the beloved conductor and composer will lead two signature pops concerts that feature his new, original works and arrangements — and celebrate his 30 years at Bravo! Vail.
These upcoming concerts include “Country Hits: Songs from Nashville” on July 1 at 6 p.m. with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where Tyzik serves as principal pops conductor; and Bravo! Vail’s annual Patriotic Concert on July 4 at 2 p.m. — performed this year by The Philadelphia Orchestra and featuring the Colorado premiere of Tyzik’s piece “Lift Off!” Both performances will take place at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail.
“Every time I come to Bravo! Vail, we have incredible concerts and artists, and people really respond to it,” Tyzik said. “It’s a signature thing we do — concerts in the pops genre with high musical integrity.”
A legacy of excellence at Bravo! Vail
Tyzik’s relationship with Bravo! Vail runs deep. Since joining Bravo! Vail in 1994 with Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, which he co-leads as principal pops conductor, he’s written and produced countless works for Bravo! Vail. This includes a piece he wrote and premiered for President Gerald R. Ford, who put the score in his presidential library.
Throughout his career outside of Vail, Tyzik has appeared with more than 75 orchestras — including the Dallas, Detroit, and Oregon symphony orchestras, where he is also lead pops conductor — and written more than 400 arrangements, orchestrations and compositions for orchestra.
“Jeff is everything I find most inspiring about Bravo! Vail: artistic excellence, collaboration, spontaneity, and a celebration of the gift of live music that brings community together,” said Anne-Marie McDermott, Bravo! Vail’s artistic director. “His presence for 30 years has been extraordinary, and each season he has been with us has proven to be more brilliant and inspiring than the last.”
The program for this season’s “Country Hits: Songs from Nashville” concert embodies this creative excellence. Tyzik produced and arranged each piece for the country music-inspired concert, even traveling to Nashville to meet with its four-piece band, which will appear alongside the DSO.
The program includes songs by classic and contemporary artists such as Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Garth Brooks and Kacey Musgraves — and features Nashville vocal stars Rick Brantley and Grace Leer.
Tyzik said the concert is designed to imitate a night at The Grand Ole Opry, Nashville’s world-famous weekly show featuring a line-up of award-winning country musicians. There will be surprises, too, including Charlie Daniels’s toe-tapping “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” with the famous fiddle solo performed by the entire orchestra.
“All of the guest musicians are from Nashville and are the real deal,” Tyzik said. “These players know this music as well as a classical player would know Bach. I think it’s really a phenomenal concert.”
A patriotic — and interstellar — tribute
Audiences can experience a different type of American music on July 4 at the festival’s annual Patriotic Concert, which Tyzik will lead with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
The program features a variety of patriotic symphonic music, including James’ Beckel’s “Gardens of Stone,” an annually programmed piece featuring a U.S. veteran reading a script that honors fallen military men and women. For the first time this year, two married combat veterans will narrate the work — SOCM Harry Bologna, who also serves as an ambassador to the Vail Veteran Program, and his wife, HMS Julie Bologna.
Tyzik noted how deeply meaningful this part of the program is for him.
“My experience with these incredible men and women who have put their lives on the line and suffered for our country and freedom has been so meaningful for me,” Tyzik said. “Featuring them in these Fourth of July concerts has been one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done.”
The Patriotic Concert will also feature the Colorado premiere of Tyzik’s outer space-themed composition “Lift Off!,” which Bravo! Vail commissioned to honor his 30th year at the festival.
The piece was inspired in part by Tyzik’s recently premiered “Eclipse Suite,” a three-movement work he wrote for the Rochester Philharmonic to perform in a concert preceding the 2024 total solar eclipse.
“Lift Off!” charts a ship’s interstellar journey to the moon and beyond, simulating it leaving Earth’s orbit. The piece follows the ship as it travels to a fictional moon base, which serves as a launching point to other planets in the galaxy.
“I wanted to depict this feeling of space and what it feels like to leave Earth,” Tyzik said. “I also wanted to honor the people who are using this kind of technology for the betterment of the planet. It’s a fantasy in my mind.”
Read the full article at VailDaily.com