Lasting Impressions by Karolina Hopper

Puttin’ on the Ritz with FCO

Fenimore Chamber Orchestra played its second concert of the season on October 5 at Christ Church in Cooperstown. The orchestra tipped its top hat to the great compositional school of America, a school that is primarily ignored not only here at home but abroad. This amounted to truly inspired concert programming. The concert opened with four arrangements by William Zinn of four famous songs of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington. Ellington produced not only his great jazz compositions, but wrote operas, ballets, symphonies, art songs, you name it; and all this in addition to more than 4,000 performances in his lifetime! He has simply got to be the greatest musician America ever produced! The four songs chosen, especially the famous “Take the A Train,” produced a lilt and care for which this orchestra is famous. The orchestra as well as the audience were rocking away.