By Helen BezunehSpecial to the AFRO hbezuneh@afro.com
GoGo Symphony, a musical group that celebrates go-go music within the style’s birthplace of D.C., is internet hosting “T’was the Night time,” a classical jazz vacation present at 8:00 p.m. on Dec. 22. The Union Stage efficiency will mix the sounds of classical symphony music and Go-go music, however this time with a vacation twist.
“We’re going to have some Christmas songs, plenty of enjoyable and partying,” stated Liza Figueroa Kravinsky, founder and composer of GoGo Symphony from Arlington, Va. “It’s a kid-friendly occasion. Simply count on plenty of go-go beats and plenty of strings and flutes and horns on prime of that. Now we have Dee Dee because the MC and there’s going to be plenty of name and response with the group.”
“I composed many of the authentic music and organized one of many Christmas songs,” she added. “I’ll be enjoying the violin and perhaps shaking some jingle bells right here and there, dancing across the stage.”
Within the phrases of the group’s web site, GoGo Symphony has been performing “symphonies you possibly can dance to” since 2012, when Kravinsky based the group.
“I used to be raised on classical music,” Kravinsky informed the AFRO. “However then I began enjoying in go-go bands, and you know the way go-go places something over the go-go beat and makes it go-go. That’s what I did with classical music.”
The GoGo Symphony has been working onerous in preparation for the vacation present, making certain attendees will benefit from the full of life performances.
“We’ve been rehearsing since September,” stated Kravinsky. “We needed to write some particular preparations of Christmas music within the GoGo Symphony format. Now we have new costumes, we’ve some decorations, we’re simply attempting to make it as festive as attainable.”
William “Juju” Home, principal drummer of GoGo Symphony from D.C., will carry out a few songs with the symphony on the live performance. The present may also characteristic a highlight on Home, who has toured with quite a few famend musicians akin to Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Salt n’ Pepa and Luther Vandross.
“It’s going to be a very, actually nice present,” Home informed the AFRO. “I’m coming in doing a few Christmas songs carried out by Chuck Brown.”
“The primary a part of the present that I’m going to be doing with Dee Dee, it’s going to be a Christmas jazz set, just like the Erykah Badu kind,” he added. “It’s really going to be very nice, it’s going to be totally different, completely totally different than what you usually see from a symphony.”
Eucrita D. Willis, who goes by Ms. Cxree or Dee Dee, is the artistic creative director and supervisor of GoGo Symphony. Willis, a performing arts instructor from Newport Information, Va., sings and dances with the symphony. She has toured with main artists, a few of which embrace Shirley Murdock, Nephew Tommy, Damion Corridor and David Peaston.
“We at all times prefer to have enjoyable at GoGo Symphony exhibits. It’s an academic platform for youth, for households, from younger to outdated, the place they’ll truly hear some classical music that’s intertwined with the D.C. sound of go-go and expertise an entire collaboration of various genres.” Willis informed the AFRO. “We’re doing a few of our throwback music that we’ve had for a while with somewhat combination of our new Christmas songs that had been written and produced by our conductor.”
“We’ve achieved exhibits across the holidays for different venues and different folks, however that is our first official vacation present,” she added. “Come ready to have an excellent time and hearken to among the conventional, classical that we, even myself, grew up on as youngsters.”
The vacation present may also characteristic a raffle prize. Tickets for the present could be discovered on unionstage.com, the hyperlink for which is on gogosymphony.com.
