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It is a twelve-part epic poem which Hughes scored with musical cues drawn from blues and Dixieland, gospel songs, boogie woogie, bebop, progressive jazz, Latin “cha cha,” Afro-Cuban mambo music, German lieder, Jewish liturgy, West Indian calypso and African drumming—a creative masterwork left unperformed at his death.
“The Langston Hughes Project” takes place on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Single tickets start at $25. This innovative program is generously sponsored by J.P.Morgan Chase & Co., PIMCO, Lendistry, Irvine Barclay Theatre, Sam and Susan Anderson, PepsiCo, Marsh McLennan and Ginny Davies. For more information or to purchase tickets, please click here or call (714) 755-5799. To review our commitment to the safety of our audiences, please click here.
Commenting on his interest in “The Langston Hughes Project,” Music Director Carl St.Clair said, “Dr. Ronald McCurdy and I have served together on the faculty of the Thornton School of Music at USC for over 20 years. Over that time, Ron and I have grown to be trusted friends and colleagues. It is a great honor to welcome him to Orange County to join in a performance of his kaleidoscopic jazz suite—his Langston Hughes’ Project—Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz.” St.Clair continued, “It’s incredibly creative and links words and music featuring artists Langston Hughes admired throughout his career. Ron’s vivid musical imagination recreates a magical moment in our cultural history. I am proud this project is part of Pacific Symphony’s season.”
Carl St.Clair leading Pacific Symphony will be joined by narrator Terrence A. Carson and the Ron McCurdy Quartet. The Quartet consists of Ron McCurdy (trumpet and spoken word), Yuma Sung (piano), Max Kraus (acoustic bass) and Reggie Quinerly (drums and percussion).
Originally, Hughes created “Ask Your Mama” in the aftermath of his participation as an official for the five-day Newport Jazz Festival of July 1960, where he shared the stage with such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Dakota Staton, Oscar Peterson, Otis Spann, Ray Charles and Muddy Waters. The musical scoring was designed to serve not as mere background but to forge a conversation and a commentary with the music. Though Hughes originally intended to collaborate with Charles Mingus, and then Randy Weston, on the performance of this masterwork, it remained only in the planning stages when Langston Hughes died in 1967. Its recovery now in word, music and image provides a galvanizing experience for audiences everywhere.
Utilizing engaging videography, this concert performance links the words and music of Hughes’ poetry to topical images of Ask Your Mama’s people, places, events and to the visual artists Langston Hughes admired and/or collaborated with most closely over the course of his career including the African-inspired mural designs and cubist geometries of Aaron Douglas, the blues and jazz-inspired collages of Romare Bearden, the macabre grotesques of Meta Warrick Fuller, the rhythmic sculptural figurines, heads, and bas reliefs of Richmond Barthe, and the color-blocked cityscapes and black history series of Palmer Hayden and Jacob Lawrence.
Together, the words, sounds and images recreate a magical moment in cultural history, which bridges the Harlem renaissance, the post World War II beat writers’ coffeehouse jazz poetry world and the looming Black Arts performance explosion of the 1960’s.
The performance is brought to life by the extraordinary talents of the Ron McCurdy Quartet. Dr. Ronald C. McCurdy is professor of music in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (USC) and is Past-President of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE). Prior to his appointment at USC he served as Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC. He is co-author of a vocal jazz improvisation series titled “Approaching the Standards,” published by Warner Bros. Dr. McCurdy is the director of the National Grammy Vocal Jazz Ensemble and combo, and also serves as Director of the Walt Disney All-American College Band in Anaheim, Calif.
Dr. McCurdy has performed with a host of legendary jazz artists, including Wynton Marsalis, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney, Terence Blanchard, Leslie Uggams, Arturo Sandoval, Diane Schuur, Ramsey Lewis, Mercer Ellington, Dr. Billy Taylor, Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton and Dianne Reeves. He is a performing artist for the Yamaha International Corporation.
Program and artists subject to change.
Pacific Symphony, under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Carl St.Clair since 1990, has been the resident orchestra of Orange County’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall for 15 years. Founded in 1978, the Symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the U.S. in the last 50 years and is not only a fixture of musical life in Southern California, but is also recognized as an outstanding ensemble making strides on both the national and international scenes.
The orchestra presents more than 100 concerts and events each year and a rich array of education and community engagement programs, reaching more than 300,000 residents of all ages. Pacific Symphony made its debut at Carnegie Hall in 2018, where it was invited to perform as part of a yearlong celebration of composer Philip Glass’ 80th birthday.
The Symphony made its first-ever tour to China the same year, with performances in five cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. The Symphony has been recognized with multiple ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and included among the country’s five most innovative orchestras by the League of American Orchestras. The Symphony’s education and community engagement activities have also been recognized by the League, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts.
