The legendary Glenn Miller Orchestra will play The Town Hall (123 W. 43rd Street) as part of their world tour. Performing two shows on Saturday, October 19 at 3:00PM and 8:00PM, 18 musicians and 2 singers, Nick Hilscher and Hannah Truckenbrod will perform timeless songs such as In the Mood, Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Pennsylvania 6-5000, String of Pearls and Tuxedo Junction. The Glenn Miller Orchestra is musical directed by Hilscher (Young and Foolish, Timeless) and produced by Didier Morissonneau.
The legendary Glenn Miller was the most successful of all the dance bandleaders back in the Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s and The Glenn Miller Orchestra became the most popular and commercially successful dance orchestra of the Swing era and one of the greatest singles charting acts of the 20th century. Even 80 years after founding his famous orchestra, Glenn Miller's music is as relevant as ever for jazz and swing fans alike.
"As the Glenn Miller Orchestra returns to New York, it feels like a homecoming," said producer Didier Morissonneau. "Miller began professionally recording in the city as a sideman in the Hot Jazz era of the late 1920s and got his big break when his Orchestra performed at the Glenn Island Casino in New Rochelle in 1939. We look forward to performing some our greatest hits for New York audiences and to celebrate this timeless music."
The Glenn Miller Orchestra is a fully self-contained group consisting of the music director, five saxophone players, four trumpeters, four trombonists, and three rhythm musicians (piano, bass and drums). Also, there are two vocalists, one male and one female, who perform individually and as part of The Moonlight SerenadersÒ vocal group. The Glenn Miller Orchestra is "on the road" longer and more continuously than any other in the whole world, having celebrated its 80th year anniversary on June 6, 2018. It covers over a hundred thousand miles a year, working most every night for 48 weeks out of every 52-nearly 300 playing dates, performing for an "in person" audience that adds up to more than a half million people annually.
The orchestra has performed in all 50 United States, as well as throughout Europe, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Guam, the Philippines, South and Central America. They also tour Japan each and every year!
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra made a big impact right before and during the war, having more hit records in one year than anybody in the history of the recording industry. In fact, its recording of Chattanooga Choo-Choo earned the first Gold Record ever awarded to a performing artist. Additional Gold Record recordings include "In the Digital Mood" and "In the Christmas Mood," Volume I & II.
The theme of Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was the beautiful Moonlight Serenade, and it is still the signature tune of the Glenn Miller Orchestra today. Interestingly enough, Glenn Miller originally wrote the music of the song himself as an exercise for a course in arranging. He composed it long before he organized his band, when he was a trombonist and arranger with Ray Noble's famous band. Today, it is considered a standard in the field of popular music with its popularity as an instrumental continuing undiminished through the years.
It is now more than 80 years since Glenn Miller first succeeded with the Orchestra, which still bears his name until this day. Glenn's orchestra and music have been heard around the world continuously since 1938.
Town Hall has played an integral part in the electrifying cultural fabric of New York City for more than 90 years. A group of Suffragists' gut for the 19th Amendment led them to build a meeting space to educate people on the important issues of the day. During its construction, the 19th Amendment was passed, and on January 12, 1921 The Town Hall opened its doors and took on a double meaning: as a symbol of the victory sought by its founders, and as a spark for a new, more optimistic climate. In 1921, German composer Richard Strauss performed a series of concerts that cemented the Hall's reputation as an ideal venue for musical performances. Since, Town Hall has been home to countless musical milestones: The US debuts of Strauss, and Isaac Stern; Marian Anderson's first New York recital; in 1945, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker introduced bebop to the world; Bob Dylan's first major concert in '63; and much, much more.
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