Philly Rhapsody

It was exciting to write a piece for the orchestra at Philadelphia's High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) because high school was such a ripe time for my own musical curiosity, and because there's so much musical energy in the CAPA orchestra. My high school had a "Joy of Discovery" festival every spring, and "Joy of Discovery" sums up perfectly why I like writing for teenage musicians.

In writing for the CAPA orchestra, I mixed the elegant richness of symphonic music with the urgent excitement of brassy and soulful pop music. CAPA has long been a fixture of South Broad Street [in Philadelphia, now also known as the Avenue of the Arts], for many years sharing a corner with both the Philadelphia Orchestra and Philly International Records, home of the smooth R&B style Thom Bell and Gamble & Huff wrote and produced for groups like the Delfonics and the Stylistics.

It's fascinating that the musicians on the West side of the street are world-famous as "The Philadelphia Sound" and the musicians on the East side of the street were world-famous as "The Sound of Philadelphia." Both are outstanding and inspiring, yet they never seemed to cross paths.

In creating "Philly Rhapsody", I've composed an orchestra piece which relies on rich strings, symphonic color, texture and development, bright jazzy brass playing and a funky rhythm section - perhaps the best of both worlds. It's an homage to "The Sound of Philadelphia" and "The Philadelphia Sound" and an offspring of the two.