MUSIC

The Houston Symphony presents One O'Clock Swings!, Friday-Saturday, November 12-13 at  8pm, and Sunday, November 14 at 7:30pm in Jones Hall.

The Houston Symphony and Assistant Conductor Brett Mitchell have asked the highly esteemed and Grammy® award-winning University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band (pictured, photo by Robin Gansle) to join them on stage November 12, 13 and 14 for performances that will redefine the term “big band”.

For the first time ever, the two groups will join together at Jones Hall for a rousing showcase of everyone’s favorite jazz, swing and big band music. Time-honored songs like “One O’Clock Jump”, “Moten Swing”, “April in Paris” and “Stardust” will be performed as well as a myriad of other classics by venerable composers and performers, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin.

About Brett Mitchell
Now entering his fourth season as Assistant Conductor of the Houston Symphony, Brett Mitchell is one of America’s most exciting and promising young conductors. Since his appointment in September 2007, he has led the orchestra in nearly one hundred performances on all subscription series, several of which have been broadcast nationwide on SymphonyCast and Performance Today. Mitchell is also the newly appointed Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, beginning his first season in September 2010, while also serving as a regular cover conductor for The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Highlights of his upcoming 2010-11 season include his debuts with both the National Symphony Orchestra and Da Camera of Houston, as well as preparing a new production of Puccini’s Trittico for Maestro Lorin Maazel at the 2010 Castleton Festival.

A native of Seattle, Mr. Mitchell holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from The University of Texas at Austin, where he was also Music Director of the University Orchestra. Prior to that, he earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition from Western Washington University. Mr. Mitchell also participated in the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C., and studied extensively with Kurt Masur as a recipient of the inaugural American Friends of the Mendelssohn Foundation Scholarship

About One O’Clock Lab Band
The One O’Clock Lab Band is the premier performing ensemble of the internationally acclaimed University of North Texas jazz studies program, spearheaded by director Steve Wiest, award-winning composer and arranger. With an unprecedented six Grammy nominations resulting from the library of over fifty critically acclaimed Lab Band recordings to date, the One O’Clock Lab Band is noted for exceptional individual musicianship and tight ensemble performance. Their concerts feature the Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson libraries (housed exclusively at North Texas), original compositions by Grammy-nominated composers Neil Slater and Steve Wiest, and the wealth of compositions and arrangements in our library written by current and former North Texas students.

The band has toured internationally with great success over the decades, performing on four continents and receiving special invitations like their performance for the King of Thailand and their Presidential invitation to the White House, where they were joined on stage by Duke Ellington and Stan Getz. Most recently they toured the major jazz festivals in Europe including Montreux, Vienne, North Sea, and Umbria. Other engagements include performances in major jazz venues such as Birdland, Blues Alley, Catalina's, and as the headliner at jazz festivals, major music conferences, and concerts hosted by numerous fine arts series, colleges and high schools around the world.

The North Texas jazz program boasts a long list of alumni that are now virtually everywhere in the professional music industry as performing artists and jazz educators. The jazz degree program at North Texas began in 1947 under Dr. Gene Hall, gained national recognition under Dr. Leon Breeden, and achieved international renown under Neil Slater. The UNT jazz faculty, currently chaired by Dr. John Murphy, is the foundation of the North Texas jazz studies division. Thirteen full-time faculty members provide UNT jazz studies students with an educational environment unparalleled among university programs.  

About the Houston Symphony
The Houston Symphony has played a central role in Houston’s cultural and civic life since 1913. Each year, the Houston Symphony performs more than 170 concerts for approximately 350,000 people, featuring an innovative and broad spectrum of classical, popular, education and community-based symphonic programming. For tickets and more information, please visit www.houstonsymphony.org  or call 713-224-7575.