The rhythms of the Jazz Age come alive as Gershwin expert Kevin Cole joins Maestro Fakhouri and the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra to perform the iconic Rhapsody in Blue. The evening also features Rhythms of the Range by Chris Brubeck, part of a consortium of orchestras premiering this spirited new work inspired by Dave Brubeck and the American West. This concert closes with a nostalgic visit to the English countryside in Edward Elgar’s beloved Enigma Variations.
Kevin Cole
Internationally acclaimed pianist Kevin Cole is widely regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of George Gershwin. Praised for performances that combine classical virtuosity with the rhythmic vitality and improvisational spirit of jazz, Cole has earned a reputation as “America’s Pianist,” captivating audiences with his deep understanding of America’s greatest popular composers. Music historian Edward Jablonski famously called him “the best Gershwin pianist since Gershwin himself.”
Cole has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Nashville Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and dozens of regional orchestras throughout North America. He made history as the first pianist to perform all four of George Gershwin’s works for piano and orchestra in a single concert.
Chris Brubeck
Grammy nominated composer, bassist, trombonist, and pianist Chris Brubeck has built a career that bridges jazz, classical, blues, folk, and popular music with remarkable originality. The son of legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, Chris has forged his own path as an acclaimed composer and performer whose works have been commissioned and performed by orchestras across North America.
A longtime member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Chris spent more than two decades touring, recording, and arranging alongside his father while developing an extensive catalog of orchestral, chamber, and concerto works. His compositions have been praised for their lyrical melodies, rhythmic vitality, and uniquely American voice, blending classical traditions with jazz influences in fresh and compelling ways. Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein described him as “a composer with a real flair for lyrical melody, a 21st Century Lenny Bernstein.”
About Rhythms of the Range
Rhythms of the Range is a new orchestral work by Chris Brubeck that celebrates the spirit, landscapes, and enduring legacy of the American West. Inspired by the childhood experiences of his father, Dave Brubeck, who worked as a cowboy on a California cattle ranch, the work explores the rhythms, sounds, and wide open spaces that helped shape one of America’s most influential jazz musicians.
As a teenager, Dave Brubeck often described hearing music in the natural rhythms of ranch life, from the steady cadence of horses’ hooves to the mechanical pulse of ranch equipment. Those early experiences became part of the rhythmic imagination that later defined his groundbreaking jazz compositions. Rhythms of the Range revisits those origins, weaving together orchestral color, American musical traditions, and Brubeck’s distinctive rhythmic language into a vivid musical portrait of ranch life and the western landscape.
Commissioned through a consortium of orchestras, Rhythms of the Range continues the Brubeck family’s tradition of creating orchestral works that celebrate uniquely American stories. Much like the Grammy nominated Ansel Adams: America, co-written by Dave and Chris Brubeck, this new composition invites audiences to experience the beauty, history, and cultural significance of the American West through the power of live symphonic music.
