Tagged: Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has tapped jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard to oversee its jazz series.

The orchestra announced Tuesday Blanchard will curate acts for the Paradise Jazz Series and contribute to community education. The five-time Grammy winner is serving as the Fred A. & Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Chair.

Orchestra officials say Blanchard will make special guest appearances, serve as a host and at times perform with featured artists. His first appearance at Orchestra Hall in his role will be May 4 for a tribute to the musical relationship between jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie and Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo.

The Paradise Jazz Series is named for the Paradise Theatre, the name of Orchestra Hall during the 1940s after the symphony left and it temporarily closed.

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Those are the numbers you get when you're the helmsman of the Starship Enterprise, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra hopes that will translate into tickets this weekend.

George Takei, a.k.a "Mr. Sulu" will be performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra tonight and this weekend.

From Takei's Facebook page:

In my dressing room with stellar soprano Kristen Plumley at Friday's sci-fi concert by Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jack Everly. We're also doing concerts on Saturday eve and Sunday afternoon. If you're in the Detroit area, please join us at Orchestra Hall!

Here's a description of the DSO's Sci-Fi Spectacular show:

Renowned pops conductor Jack Everly brings an out of this world production featuring music from Star Wars, Star Trek, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Day the Earth Stood Still and more. Complete with an appearance by Mr. Sulu himself, George Takei!

An unlikely musical guest will headline a one-night-only concert in May to benefit the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Michigan musician and rapper Kid Rock will headline the fundraising concert. The goal is to raise $1 million for the DSO; the orchestra faces a deficit of more than a $2 million this year.

Kid Rock will share the stage with his own Twisted Brown Trucker band and the DSO. They’ll play orchestral arrangements of some of Kid Rock’s hits, with DSO music director Leonard Slatkin conducting.