Bobby McFerrin Conducts La Scala Philharmonic in MusicEmotion Matinee Today

Ten-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin conducts La Scala's philharmonic orchestra in an eclectic MusicEmotion concert today, August 11, 11:30 a.m. at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Avenue. Tickets are $10 in advance at www.musicboxtheatre.com/collections/musicemotion or in person at the Music Box Theatre box office, subject to availability.

Chicago's Music Box Theatre shows off the full power of its newly remodeled, state-of-the-art second screening room ("The Mini-Music Box") with MusicEmotion: Syphony in Cinema, a series of captured live musical matinees broadcast from Milan's renowned La Scala opera house for an Old World musical experience in high definition. Each MusicEmotion program captures the nuances of the FilarMonica Della Scala, its conductors and soloists. Bobby McFerrin's August 11 program includes Leonard Bernstein's Candide Overture, Gabriel Fauré's Pavane, Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto per due violoncelli, Bobby McFerrin's Solo Improvisations and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Symphony no.4. Directors Francesco Micheli and Joelle Williams go behind the scenes, interviewing the artists and introducing each concert from places associated with the lives of the composers.

Bobby McFerrin's career - marked by collaborations with the jazz and pop greats, 10 Grammy Awards and sales of more than 20 million records - took an unexpected turn after the worldwide success of the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy." McFerrin studied conducting (including with Leonard Bernstein) and worked with the world's greatest orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker.

The dialogue with jazz and other forms of music at La Scala has been sporadic, but always of the highest quality. In 2012, McFerrin conducted the orchestra, but also sang the part of the second violoncello in a concert of Vivaldi's music and also improvised, inviting the orchestra and the audience to join him in a decidedly unusual musical experience.

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