Orion Ensemble Offers World Premiere Jazz Piece, Pianist Miguel de la Cerna to Conclude Season, 5/9,13

As the concluding concert of its 2011–12 season-Chamber Treasures Meet Chicago Jazz-The Orion Ensemble presents "All That Jazz!" featuring a world premiere by guest pianist Miguel de la Cerna, a Fauré quartet and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Performances are May 6 at Music Institute of Chicago's Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston, May 9 at Roosevelt University's Ganz Memorial Hall in Chicago and May 13 at Fox Valley Presbyterian Church in Geneva.

The program's world premiere commission by Chicago jazz musician Miguel de la Cerna, who also will perform with Orion, represents "Chicago jazz" by covering various eras of the genre. Describing the four-movement piece, entitled Livingston 8 – A Fantasy, de la Cerna said, "I decided to use the music of my life, growing up and living on the South Side of Chicago from 1960 until today. The piece is a jazz, blues, gospel, funk improvisation fantasy written for a traditional chamber ensemble."

Bridging these two pieces, chronologically and aesthetically, is George Gershwin's American classic Rhapsody in Blue, here arranged for clarinet and piano by Timofei Dokshitser.

Miguel de la Cerna, a Hyde Park native, is a multifaceted pianist, conductor and music director. He is most known for his jazz arrangements for singers but is also accomplished in classical music and musical theatre. Miguel has performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival, and he received critical acclaim for his arrangements and direction of Dee Alexander's Tribute to Nina Simone and Dinah Washington at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Miguel was featured pianist and arranger for the Eldee Young Quartet, which made extensive tours of Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.