Lesbian & Big Apple Corps: Carnival of the Animals

The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps: CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS

Henco Espag, Director, Symphonic Band
Royden Ringer, Assistant Conductor

Join the Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band for a dazzling adventure through the animal kingdom in our concert, “Carnival of the Animals”! From the movie soundtracks of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and How To Train Your Dragon to selections from Saint-Saëns's beloved Carnival Of The Animals, this concert is bound to be a romp! Symphonic Director Henco Espag will lead us through a lively and varied landscape populated by creatures both real and imaginary.

We are very excited to premiere Salvador Alan Jacobo’s “The Hourglass,” the winning programmatic composition from our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Composition Competition at this concert. Time is the great equalizer, and humans have from the beginning yearned for the ability to control it, to run in reverse, to re-do mistakes for a better tomorrow. Composer Salvador Alan Jacobo explores this yearning in this grand programmatic work for a large symphonic band, full of bold melodic statements that are played both forwards and backwards, simulating a rewinding of time. Sweeping flourishes and rhythmic grooves guide us through the overall moving of sand through the hourglass.

This event is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

ABOUT US

The tagline “The Sound of Love and Joy” tells the story of The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps. Since its formation in 1979, this band of brothers and sisters has been making music and art for audiences across the United States and Canada.

The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band has shared the stage with such luminaries as Harvey Fierstein, Rita Moreno, Liz Smith, Arthur Laurents, Randy Graff, Edie Windsor, Liz Callaway, Stephen Schwartz, and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus. But not only has the band performed with the famous, it has performed for the famous: the Big Apple Corps’ music has been heard by three American presidents and by countless celebrities along many parade routes. A proud founding member of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association, the Big Apple Corps has performed from coast-to-coast with the LGBA massed band, featuring the combined membership of 30 bands from around the world.

With a membership of over 200 musicians, color guard members, and Band Aides, The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps plans to go on lifting the hearts of audiences in concert halls and along parade routes for years to come.