2019-20 Season in Review

Listen Up: Seminars on Music is a weekly gathering of music lovers every Wednesday morning, hosted by AZMF’s Resident Artist, Josh Condon.  Each session combines music history, analysis, active listening, and discussion, designed to enhance your listening experience and overall music appreciation.  Listen Up covers all genres, emphasizing our common humanity across all musical styles!  Coffee provided. Last season's exploration of film music was such a hit that we're bringing it back! Together we'll revisit some of cinema's most memorable scores, uncovering the musical techniques composers use to create unforgettable characters, breathtaking adventures, and deeply emotional moments. Audience favorites may help shape this year's playlist. Send your favorites to josh@azmusicfest.org, and during the session we’ll listen together and dig into what makes each piece work. We’ll explore how composers use melody, harmony, rhythm, and orchestration to bring characters to life, heighten emotion, and create immersive cinematic worlds. Whether your pick is iconic, obscure, classic, or contemporary, it will help guide our conversation and deepen our collective understanding of how music tells stories in film.

In Part 3 of this series, Nicole helps us remember those “retro” films that evoke nostalgia from past eras. These “gems of the screen” feature distinctive styles, themes, and cultural references from their respective time periods. Explore how film composers cultivate the mood and “voice” of these genres with clever soundtrack and film scoring techniques; As Nicole examines music from Iconic scores like “The Godfather”, “Star Wars”, “Grease”, “The Sting”, and “E.T.” Along the way, legendary composers like: John Williams, Henry Mancini and Marvin Hamlisch will be cited.

Listen Up: Seminars on Music is a weekly gathering of music lovers every Wednesday morning, hosted by AZMF’s Resident Artist, Josh Condon.  Each session combines music history, analysis, active listening, and discussion, designed to enhance your listening experience and overall music appreciation.  Listen Up covers all genres, emphasizing our common humanity across all musical styles!  Coffee provided. Celebrate one of Arizona's own musical treasures. We'll explore the remarkable career of pianist, composer, educator, and Phoenix jazz legend Charles Lewis, whose artistry has shaped generations of musicians throughout the Valley. Through recordings, stories, and discussion, we'll honor a true local legend whose influence reaches far beyond Arizona. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj1vcGp12_Y

Listen Up: Seminars on Music is a weekly gathering of music lovers every Wednesday morning, hosted by AZMF’s Resident Artist, Josh Condon.  Each session combines music history, analysis, active listening, and discussion, designed to enhance your listening experience and overall music appreciation.  Listen Up covers all genres, emphasizing our common humanity across all musical styles!  Coffee provided. Few bands blended rock, classical influences, rich harmonies, and philosophical lyrics as successfully as The Moody Blues. We'll revisit their greatest songs while exploring the musical innovations that helped define the progressive rock movement and continue to captivate listeners decades later.

Listen Up: Seminars on Music is a weekly gathering of music lovers every Wednesday morning, hosted by AZMF’s Resident Artist, Josh Condon.  Each session combines music history, analysis, active listening, and discussion, designed to enhance your listening experience and overall music appreciation.  Listen Up covers all genres, emphasizing our common humanity across all musical styles!  Coffee provided. With elegant harmonies and timeless songwriting, Simon & Garfunkel created some of the most beloved music of the twentieth century. We'll examine Paul Simon's remarkable craftsmanship, the duo's distinctive vocal blend, and the stories behind classics that continue to speak to every generation.

Steve Bergsman and Brian Rosner are back with a new show called THE ‘60s BEFORE THE BEATLES. The years of 1960 through 1963 are often considered a slack time in the history of rock ‘n’ roll as the original wild pioneers of the new sound such as Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis all left the stage temporarily due to such circumstances as religion, scandal or getting drafted. One pioneer, Buddy Holly, left the scene forever due to a plane crash. And replacing the greats were more tepid performers such as Frankie Avalon, Bobby Vinton, and Bobby Rydell. Which is why the Beatles were so successful, so quickly. They were more exciting, more innovative, and represented a new sound and look. On closer scrutiny, however, this was actually a very fertile time in the history of American pop music with such important trends as: the launching of soul labels such as Motown and Stax; the excellence of Brill Building music; the Girl Group era; first rock ‘n’ roll period of dance music such as The Twist; Bob Dylan and the folk music revival; heyday of Italian doo-wop, and the beginning of the California Sound. So, step back in time and let’s Loco-Motion to the tunes of the early 1960s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyy7ZVRJciE  

Listen Up: Seminars on Music is a weekly gathering of music lovers every Wednesday morning, hosted by AZMF’s Resident Artist, Josh Condon.  Each session combines music history, analysis, active listening, and discussion, designed to enhance your listening experience and overall music appreciation.  Listen Up covers all genres, emphasizing our common humanity across all musical styles!  Coffee provided. Before Musicfest presents Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved masterpiece, we'll explore the musical that forever changed Broadway. We'll examine its unforgettable songs, groundbreaking treatment of prejudice and social issues, and the extraordinary partnership that created one of America's greatest musicals. You'll never hear "Some Enchanted Evening" quite the same way again.

In the Part 4 (Finale) of this presentation, Nicole highlights film music from modern movie favorites like “Harry Potter”, “The Piano”, “Jurassic Park”, “La La Land”, “The Greatest Showman” and “Oppenheimer”. Once again, the form, structure and magic behind these legendary soundtracks will be examined, along with a look at the composers behind the music; From John Williams to Lady Gaga. The presentations concludes with a glimpse into what the future might look like for the modern-day film composer/pianist and addresses the question on everyone’s mind: “How will AI affect the future of film composition?

Join Arizona Musicfest’s executive and producing director, CEO Allan Naplan for an informative and entertaining look behind the scenes at Musicfest,.  As part of his engaging presentation, Allan will share how he selects artists and curates each annual concert season; he'll walk attendees through the hiring and contract process for celebrity entertainers and distinguished artists; he’ll provide insight into the Musicfest business model; and he’ll offer some personal stories about his experiences working with entitled entertainers, demanding divas, and temperamental talents!

Listen Up: Seminars on Music is a weekly gathering of music lovers every Wednesday morning, hosted by AZMF’s Resident Artist, Josh Condon.  Each session combines music history, analysis, active listening, and discussion, designed to enhance your listening experience and overall music appreciation.  Listen Up covers all genres, emphasizing our common humanity across all musical styles!  Coffee provided. We'll conclude our exploration of South Pacific by examining its rich musical architecture, unforgettable characters, and enduring emotional power. Through guided listening and discussion, we'll discover why this remarkable score continues to enchant audiences more than seventy-five years after its premiere—and why it remains one of Broadway's greatest achievements.