Arizona Musicfest Kicks Off Today; Roseanne Cash Headlines

Phoenix -- Arizona Musicfest, the premier Winter Music Festival, kicks off today, January 29 and will run throughout the month of February, concluding March 5th.

Featuring top artists of Classical, Chamber, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Country, Bluegrass and Pop, the 2015 Festival will offer fourteen extraordinary concerts at venues in Scottsdale and Phoenix. Several of this year's featured artists were recently nominated for 2015 GRAMMYS including Rosanne Cash, nominated for her album The River and The Thread, Steep Canyon Rangers for Best American Roots Song and NY Polyphony for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.

Single tickets and bundles for Arizona Musicfest concerts are on sale now at www.azmusicfest.org.

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DETAILS:

Hotel California - A Salute to the Eagles

Thursday, January 29, at 7:30pm

The Eagles mega hits "Take It Easy," "Heartache Tonight," "Desperado," "Hotel California," and solo titles from Don Henley, Glen Frey and Joe Walsh are the backbone of this exciting, action-packed tribute to one of the greatest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bands in history, the Eagles. Hotel California, one of the most popular tribute acts on the scene today, faithfully reproduces the sound of the Eagles classic studio recordings.

Venue: Highlands Church, 9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale 85255

Tickets: $23; $33, $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Feelin' Groovy - The Era of Simon & Garfunkel

Monday, February 2 at 7:30pm

Charismatic performer Jim Witter takes you on a groovy trip through the hit playlist and pop culture memories of the 1960s via the era's most popular duo, Simon and Garfunkel, featuring seminal songs like "The Sound of Silence," "I am a Rock," "Homeward Bound," "A Hazy Shade of Winter," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "The Boxer," "Cecilia," and "Scarborough Fair."

Venue: Highlands Church, 9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale 85255

Tickets: $23, $33, $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

The Duke Ellington Orchestra

Friday, February 6 at 7:30pm

Composer, bandleader and influential icon of American Music, jazz artist Duke Ellington and his band, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, entertained millions of people around the world with jazz standards such as "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," "Sophisticated Lady," "Mood Indigo," "Solitude," "Take the A Train" and "Satin Doll." "Mood Indigo," one of many Duke Ellington Orchestra recordings inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, is on NPR's list of the 100 most important musical works of the 20th Century. Ellington's rich legacy continues to thrill as the band is discovered anew with each generation.

Venue: Highlands Church, 9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale 85255 Tickets: $23, $33, $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

New York Polyphony

Sunday, February 8 at 3pm

Early Music. Modern sensibility. Praised for a "rich, natural sound that's larger and more complex than the sum of its parts" (NPR), New York Polyphony is regarded as one of the finest vocal chamber ensembles in the world. Geoffrey Williams, countertenor; Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor; Christopher Dylan Herbert, baritone; and Craig Phillips, bass, apply a distinctively modern touch to repertoire that ranges from austere medieval melodies to cutting-edge contemporary compositions. Arizona Musicfest presents this special concert in collaboration with the Musical Instrument Museum.

Venue: MIM Music Theater, located in the Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix 85050 Tickets: $47.50, $57.50

Call (480) 478-6000 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Mike Kocour Quintet

Tuesday, February 10 at 7:30pm

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "one of the most sophisticated pianists in jazz," Mike Kocour has performed around the world with artists and ensembles as varied as Dizzy Gillespie and the Chicago Symphony. He has been a guest on National Public Radio's "Piano Jazz with Marion McPartland," enthusiastically introduced to international radio audiences as a brilliant pianist and composer, "He plays with remarkable creativity and a technique to die for. Sparkling sophistication, the order of the day."

Venue: Troon Country Club, 25000 North Windy Walk Drive, Scottsdale 85255 Cocktails: A cash bar is available Tickets: $49

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Steep Canyon Rangers

Thursday, February 12 at 7:30pm

Nimble instrumental agility, tight vocal harmonies, and inventive songwriting have made Steep Canyon Rangers an audience favorite. Appearing on television's "Austin City Limits," the "Late Show with David Letterman," and the "Today Show," as well as onstage at Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry, Steep Canyon Rangers is considered one of the most respected bluegrass ensembles performing today. The band won a GRAMMY Award in 2013 for their album Nobody Knows You and frequently appears alongside comedian/banjo master Steve Martin. "True bluegrass, when done well, is a thing of art and the Steep Canyon Rangers are the genre's current Rembrandt." (Examiner.com)

Venue: Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, 25150 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale 85255 Tickets: $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Pianist Orli Shaham

Tuesday, February 17 at 7:30pm

A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety and vitality, Orli Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists. Hailed by critics on four continents, Shaham is in demand for her prodigious skills and admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire. The Chicago Tribune recently referred to her as "a first-rate Mozartean" in a performance with the Chicago Symphony, and London's Guardian said Shaham's playing was "perfection" during her recent Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Venue: Temple Chai, 4645 East Marilyn Road, Phoenix 85032 (south of Greenway, west of Tatum) Tickets: $34, $50; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Bob Moody & Friends Featuring Simply Three

Thursday, February 19 at 5:30pm & 8:30pm

Multi-talented Robert Moody, Arizona Musicfest Artistic Director, hosts and performs in this unique cabaret-style evening featuring a variety of outstanding guest artists. This much-loved annual concert offers a wide range of musical styles, showcasing the entertaining diversity, artistry and accessibility of Maestro Moody and his talented friends. Featured guest artist for 2015 is Simply Three (Glen McDaniel, violin; Nicholas Villalobos, bass; Zack Clark, cello), the hip string ensemble that has taken audiences and YouTube by storm. This is a Festival favorite that is sure to be a sell out for BOTH shows!

Venue: Fairway House at Grayhawk, 8620 E. Thompson Peak Parkway, Scottsdale 85255 Cocktails: A cash bar is available Tickets: $49

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

FESTIVAL HEADLINER

Rosanne Cash

The River & The Thread

Friday, February 20 at 7:30pm

GRAMMY Award winner Rosanne Cash performs songs from her new hit recording, The River & The Thread, plus other favorites. Since her 1981 breakout hit, Seven Year Ache, Cash has followed in the footsteps of her legendary father, Johnny Cash, by extending the country genre to appeal to an even-wider and appreciative audience. A twelve-time GRAMMY nominee, Cash has also scored 11 No. 1 country hit singles, 21 Top 40 country singles and two Gold Records, plus 2014 Americana Music Association award nominations for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.

Venue: Highlands Church, 9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale 85255 Tickets: $33, $43, $59, $75

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

ARIZONA MUSICFEST - FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA WEEK:
Featuring Players From the Nation's Finest Orchestras

Scheherazade and Mozart

Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, Conducted by Robert Moody

Featuring Ricardo Morales, clarinet

Tuesday, February 24 at 7:30pm

Festival Orchestra Week opens with a dazzling program. Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade is a technicolor tour-de- force of intense orchestral colors and a captivating story inspired by The Arabian Nights. The solo violin of Frank Huang, Concertmaster of the Houston Symphony and Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, is the voice of Scheherazade as she enchants the Sultan

Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is a work of absolute genius that exquisitely displays the tone, range and agility of the clarinet, especially in the hands of featured soloist Ricardo Morales. "Hearing the amazing Ricardo Morales play ... was riveting!" proclaimed The New York Times whose critics regard him as a star of the clarinet world. Morales is former Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, and currently Principal Clarinet of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Arizona Musicfest Orchestra.

The concert opens with Fanfare Ritmico. This work by GRAMMY and Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon is a rich tapestry of sound. "Higdon's work is traditionally rooted yet imbued with integrity, freshness and a desire to entertain." The Times of London.

Venue: Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, 25150 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale 85255

Tickets: $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Beethoven, Bach & The Blue Danube

Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, Conducted by Robert Moody

Featuring Orion Weiss, piano

Thursday, February 26 at 7:30pm

Beethoven's majestic, sublime and much loved Emperor Piano Concerto will be performed by one of the season's most sought-after soloists, Orion Weiss. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond his technical mastery and have won him worldwide acclaim. "When you're named after one of the biggest constellations in the night sky, the pressure is on to display a little star power - and the young pianist Orion Weiss did exactly that," said The Washington Post.

The extravagant orchestral transcription of Bach's Prelude & Fugue in E-flat Major is richly and imaginatively scored, eliminating the organ in exchange for enormous orchestral color. In just 22 minutes, Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier Suite captures the many moods of the three-hour opera with all its tender moments and gorgeous music.

One of the most popular works in classical music, Johann Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz is universally adored for its familiar signature melody.

Venue: Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, 25150 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale 85255 Tickets: $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Storm Large, Lead Singer of Pink Martini

The Crazy Arc of Love

Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, Conducted by Robert Moody

Friday, February 27 at 7:30pm

With her sultry blend of classical, jazz and pop, Pink Martini's lead singer, Storm Large, joins Robert Moody and the full Arizona Musicfest Orchestra for an unforgettable night. Storm Large is "Sensational!" - The New York Times. "An intoxicating and un-missable cocktail of power and vulnerability," - The Times of London. Her remarkable voice thrilled sold-out audiences when she performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. The Crazy Arc of Love covers standards from the Great American Songbook to modern classics and popular hits, including My Funny Valentine, Someone to Watch Over Me, I've Got You Under My Skin, Hopelessly Devoted, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and more.

Venue: Highlands Church, 9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale 85255 Tickets: $23, $33, $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 & Janácek Glagolitic Mass

Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, Chorus and Soloists, Conducted by Robert Moody

Dr. Rebecca Lord, Chorus Master

Sunday, March 1 at 3pm

One of Tchaikovsky's greatest works, the dramatic masterpiece Symphony No. 4 is the blockbuster anchor of this thrilling concert featuring the extraordinary talents of the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra. Profoundly expressive, pushing the boundary of every emotion, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 has it all: painful melancholy, capricious dreams and exuberant triumph.

This tour de force is paired with one of the 20th century's masterworks, Janá?ek's remarkable Glagolitic Mass. With its synthesis of thunderous brass outbursts, rhythmic energy, radiant melodies and interludes of rapt contemplation, the Glagolitic Mass has established itself as a spectacular contribution to the choral and orchestral repertoire.
The concert opens with Anton Bruckner's powerful setting of Psalm 150 for chorus, soprano soloist and orchestra.

Venue: Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, 25150 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale 85255

Tickets: $49, $65; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org

FESTIVAL FINALE

The Bronx Wanderers

Thursday, March 5 at 7:30pm

This is the ultimate soundtrack of 50s, 60s and 70s rock and roll! The music of Frankie Valli, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, and many other greats, performed with superlative vocals and musicianship, infectious energy, and a genuine love for the music. The Bronx Wanderers turn back time with heartfelt authentic and original renditions of chart-topping songs like "The Wanderer," "American Graffiti," "Happy Days," "Sherry," "Runaway," "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," "Teenager in Love," and "Put Your Head on my Shoulder."

Venue: Highlands Church, 9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale 85255 Tickets: $23, $33, $49, $65; Student $5; College with ID $10

Call (480) 840-0457 or visit www.azmusicfest.org