Queens Symphony Orchestra Salutes Broadway, Jazz
BY DAVID GORDON

Photo David Gordon Queens Symphony Orchestra Musical Director Constantine Kitsopoulos explained how musical compositions are written and performed to an audience.

It was a Broadway and jazz themed night as the Queens Symphony Orchestra took to the Great Lawn at St. John's University for their 10th annual summer concert on July 30. Queens Symphony Musical Director Constantine Kitsopoulos conducted the performance which also featured a guest performance by Broadway soprano Christiane Noll, Raeann Walters singing the St. John's Alma Mater, and Queens Park Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski conducting John Philip Sousa's "Washington Post March".

The first half of the program consisted mostly of patriotic songs—the National Anthem and a suite combining all the songs of the Armed Forces among them. Veterans were asked to stand (and were subsequently applauded by the crowd) when they heard the songs of their branch of the Service.

The second half opened with a salute to Leonard Bernstein: the overture to "Candide", and the three dance movements from "On the Town." Soprano Noll was then brought out, singing a medley of "Can't Be Bothered" and "Kickin' the Clouds" by the Gershwins and a "Tribute to Harold Arlen", arranged for her by Kitsopoulos.

Kitsopoulos is no stranger to Broadway, having been the conductor and musical director of a number of shows, most recently the Harvey Fierstein-John Bucchino musical "A Catered Affair". He showed his expertise by introducing each number and giving insight into how the compositions are written and performed. During a medley from the musical "Chicago", for example, he mentioned that to get a certain sound from a trumpet, a sink plunger was used as a mute device.

The concert, which also featured selections from Duke Ellington and Cole Porter, closed with the overture to the Gershwin musical, "Strike up the Band".