Three masters of orchestral jazz—Gershwin, Jobim, and Chick Corea—brought together for a very special evening at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, with Orchestra Victoria and a remarkable line-up of Melbourne and Tokyo’s finest musicians. Orchestra Victoria are joined in this exclusive program by GRAMMY-nominated Japanese piano virtuoso Makoto Ozone and local Brazilian music exponents Panorama Brasil, as they take you on a journey through the 20th century’s most iconic works.

When a 26-year-old George Gershwin put pen to paper 100 years ago, he couldn’t have imagined that his concerto Rhapsody in Blue would be selling out concert halls a century later, much less that his work would change the way the world thought about orchestral music and viewed the concept of the American Composer. A true pioneer, Gershwin’s masterpiece moves seamlessly between the disciplines of classical music and the then-emerging sounds of jazz.

Composed half a century later, Chick Corea’s beloved composition Spain undeniably grows from the groundwork laid by Gershwin. Leading the orchestra through the sounds of Spain, New York and Latin America in this GRAMMY-winning masterpiece will be Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone—a friend and collaborator of the great Chick Corea himself, and featured soloist with orchestras around the world including the New York Philharmonic.

Like Gershwin, Antônio Carlos Jobim reimagined the sound of a nation, merging the Brazilian samba tradition with jazz to create the distinctly Brazilian sound of bossa nova—earning him the nickname “The Godfather of Bossa Nova”. Performing selections of his vast repertoire, Panorama Brasil join forces with Orchestra Victoria and conductor Jessica Gethin, to saunter through the clubs of 1960s Rio De Janeiro.

Presented in partnership with Orchestra Victoria.