Composer Brent Havens and the Houston Symphony to Introduce Pink Floyd Fans to Symphony Music, 5/30

By: May. 21, 2015
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Composer and arranger Brent Havens will bring his "rock symphony" collaboration project, The Music of Pink Floyd, to Jones Hall on Saturday, May 30. Designed to narrow the gap between rock and classical music, the program extends the listening experience of Pink Floyd's music by pairing the orchestra with a full, amplified rock band onstage.

Havens, who attended Berklee College of Music, first began to discuss the concept of a symphonic rock program in 1994 and the show was conceived for the Virginia Symphony. Since then, Havens has brought this concept to Houston several times and also worked with the orchestras of Minnesota, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Fort Worth, the San Diego Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic and others.

"Our concept for The Music of Pink Floyd was to take the music as close to the originals as we could and then add some colors to enhance what the original group had done," Havens said. "The wonderful thing with an orchestra is that you have an entire palette of sounds to call upon.

The band is reproducing what Pink Floyd did on the albums, verbatim, and having an orchestra behind the band gives the music richness, a whole different feel, a whole different sense of depth."

The symphonic rock programs feature the vocals of Randy Jackson - lead singer of the band Zebra - and have proven to be a great way to introduce rock fans to the symphony experience.

"I'm sure there are people who come to these shows who have never seen their city's symphony orchestra and this allows them to experience something new along with the music that they already love," Havens said.

The array of Havens' rock symphonies includes the music of many other legends such as Queen, Whitney Houston, The Doors, Michael Jackson, and more recently, U2, Journey, and Lou Gramm: The Voice of Foreigner. The Music of Led Zeppelin will be performed by the Houston Symphony on Friday, May 29 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

Unless otherwise noted, all concerts take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston's Theater District. For tickets and information, call (713) 224-7575 or visit www.houstonsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.

About Brent Havens

Berklee-trained arranger/conductor Brent Havens has written music for orchestras, feature films and virtually every kind of television. His TV work includes movies for networks such as ABC, CBS and ABC Family Channel Network, commercials, sports music for networks such as ESPN and even cartoons. Havens has also worked with the Doobie Brothers and the Milwaukee Symphony, arranging and conducting the combined group for Harley Davidson's 100th Anniversary Birthday Party Finale attended by over 150,000 fans. He has worked with some of the world's greatest orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, the San Diego Symphony and countless others.

Havens recently completed the score for the film "Quo Vadis," a Premier Pictures remake of the 1956 gladiator film. In 2013 he worked with the Baltimore Symphony and the NFL's Baltimore Ravens to arrange and produce the music for the Thanksgiving Day halftime show between the Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, adapting both classical music and rock songs into a single four minute show. Havens is Arranger/Guest Conductor for nine symphonic rock programs - the Music of Led Zeppelin, the Music of the Doors, the Music of Pink Floyd, the Music of the Eagles, the Music of Queen, the Music of Michael Jackson, the Music of The Who and most recently The Music of Whitney Houston and the Music of The Rolling Stones!

About Randy Jackson

Randy Jackson is the lead singer/guitarist for the rock band Zebra. Randy's first foray into recording success began with the self-titled Zebra debut album, released on Atlantic Records. Critically acclaimed for its lush rock sounds, due in large part to Jackson's searing lead vocals and soaring guitar leads, the album sold 75,000 copies the first week. "Who's Behind The Door" and "Tell Me What You Want", written by Jackson, received serious notice in the press, and helped to form legions of Zebra fans almost instantly. The latest Zebra release, "Zebra IV", was also produced and engineered by Jackson.

Randy toured as keyboardist, guitarist and backing vocalist in 1989 with the original, reunited Jefferson Airplane, their last tour together. He has also worked extensively in the area of musical software and hardware development.

About the Houston Symphony

During the 2014-15 season, the Houston Symphony enters its second century as one of America's leading orchestras with a full complement of concert, community, education, touring and recording activities. This season also marks the inaugural year for new Music Director Andrés Orozco- Estrada. The Houston Symphony is one of the oldest performing arts organizations in Texas whose inaugural performance was held at The Majestic Theater in downtown Houston on June 21, 1913. Today, with an annual operating budget of $29.6 million, the full-time ensemble of 87 professional musicians is the largest performing arts organization in Houston, presenting more than 300 performances for 330,000 people, including 97,000 children, annually. For tickets and more information, please visit www.houstonsymphony.org or call 713-224-7575.



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