Russ Garcia's U.S.A.

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 24

Russ Garcia's U.S.A.

Russ Garcia, an American composer-arranger-conductor, will conduct the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in a special orchestral evening pops concert on Saturday, September 24 in the Christchurch Town Hall. Garcia is a former staff arranger for the N.B.C. television network, and spent 15 years working for Universal-Inter-national studios in Hollywood. He has writen the music for . more than 100 films and television shows, and has conducted his own compositions with symphony orchestras and big bands in Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. He has arranged and recorded with most show business stars including Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Junior, Andy Williams, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Shore and Oscar Peterson and has recorded a number of albums. He wrote a bestselling textbook, “The Professional Ar-ranger-Composer.” He was born in Oakland, California. After touring with several big bands as a trumpeter and arranger, he went to Southern California, where he studied

composition and conducting with the best teachers he could find. In 1968, he and his vocalist wife, Gina, decided to take a break from the Hollywood whirl. They set out a threeyear, round-the-world trip aboard their trimaran, “Dawnbreaker.” After sailing around the Pacific, they came to New Zealand and the Bay of Islands. The world trip ended there. They now spend half their year in the Bay of Islands, and the other half working and recording in the United States and Europe. • The September 24 concert will be Garcia’s first appearance with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. In the first half of the concert, he will conduct symphonic works by three contemporary American composers: Leonard Bernstein’s rollicking 'Candide Overture,” three dance 1 episodes from Aaron Copland’s "Rodeo” suite; and Morton Gould’s “Spirituals For Orchestra.” In the second half, he will introduce his own compositions and arrangements, including his “Swinging Fuge,” “Medley For Kids from 2 to 92,” and a medley of 15 TV programme themes.