Vibes and Keys: Classical Meets Jazz

Coastal Symphony of Georgia 2020-21 Concert Series

Michelle Merrill, Music Director

Variations on a Season Sunday, April 11, 2021

3:00 p.m.

Mary Ross Park – Brunswick

Vibes and Keys: Classical Meets Jazz

Aaron Lehrian – Keyboard Steve Merrill – Vibraphone

Most people today are unaware that many of the great composers of classical music such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, were also accomplished improvisers who would often create new music spontaneously in the moment during performance. While this tradition has largely been lost in classical music, improvisation remains the defining characteristic of another great musical genre - Jazz. In this concert, pianist Aaron Lehrian and vibraphonist Steve Merrill will perform classical pieces by composers such as Ravel, Gershwin, and Piazzolla, and use the structure and harmony of those pieces to improvise in a jazz style. The resulting sound will be a mixture of both the classical and jazz traditions which celebrates their shared connection to spontaneous creation.