KORI BARKLEY
Staff Writer
Eight students from Fredonia have been given the extraordinary opportunity to perform with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra during its “Glorious Gershwin” Pops Concert this Saturday, Nov. 8, at 8 p.m. at Kleinhans Music Hall.
Under the direction of Matt Catingub, featured artist and guest conductor, the concert is dedicated to the music of George Gershwin. It will present a few of his most famous tunes and bring light to some of his lesser known repertoire, as well.
Among the eight vocalists are Lovely Philema, junior; Gabby Carr, sophomore; Alex Behrens, freshman; Vaughn Faison, senior; Jimmy Hartmann, junior; Nathan Guarnere, junior; Katelyn Dietz, sophomore; and Kate Gratson, sophomore.
Each student was selected by Bruce Johnstone, Fredonia’s director of curricular jazz, as he is already familiar with each student’s unique style and ability to sing tight harmonies, as well as aggressively swing rhythms.
“This opportunity is an absolute honor,” Kaitlyn Dietz, theatre arts and applied voice double major with a concentration in jazz studies, expressed.
“The eight of us can’t stress enough how thrilled we are to be performing both as professionals and as representatives of Fredonia. It is definitely a dream come true for me, and I know we’re all incredibly excited!”
Fredonia’s connection and invitation to perform with the BPO is accredited to Johnstone, who has played frequently as an orchestra member with the BPO for the past 10 years.
Johnstone and Catingub had coincidentally been fans of each other’s careers prior to meeting for the first time last summer at the BPO’s “Big Band Salute” concert, where Johnstone was an orchestra member and Catingub was the conductor.
“It turned out that he was a big fan of mine when I was recording with Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman,” Johnstone explained. “When I was 15 or 16 years old and living in New Zealand, I actually had the chance to play with his mother, Mavis Rivers, who was a very famous jazz singer in the 1960s. So I’ve been very familiar with his music for a long time.”
The multi-talented Catingub has composed exciting, original arrangements of Gershwin’s tunes and looked to Fredonia for jazz vocalists.
“It really speaks to the growing reputation and talent we have here that such a small school can earn this opportunity,” Dietz said.
The ensemble will perform three of Catingub’s arrangements, including Gershwin’s well-known “Fascinating Rhythm,” “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” from Porgy & Bess and “Soon”.
“We’re excited that this opportunity exists,” Johnstone said. “And [we] can promise the audience that they’re in for a really enjoyable musical experience.”