Jeff Tyzik - With The Rochester Philharmonic

With The Rochester Philharmonic

In 1994, Tyzik was named Principal Pops Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he still holds. Since then, he has established himself as one of the country's preeminent Pops conductors and arrangers, acting as Principal Pops Conductor for the RPO, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and as guest conductor for numerous other orchestras in the U.S., Canada, and even Monte Carlo. He also conducted the Brass Band of Battle Creek for a 1996 independent album.

His arrangements of popular and jazz tunes for full orchestra have been widely performed. Publisher G. Schirmer commissioned Tyzik to arrange some of Duke Ellington's jazz suites for orchestra, including Black, Brown and Beige and The Nutcracker Suite. The Royal Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the Summit Brass have all recorded music arranged or composed by Tyzik.

Tyzik has recently begun branching out into more traditional orchestral styles, conducting a few RPO concerts outside of the Pops series. At one such concert, he premiered his own Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, and later premiered his wind ensemble orchestration of the same piece with the Eastman Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall.

More recently, a recording by the RPO, with Tyzik conducting and Jon Nakamatsu on piano, of George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, Rhapsody in Blue, and Cuban Overture peaked at #3 on the Billboard classical charts. The album, released 8 May 2007 on the Harmonia Mundi label, received very positive reviews, with David Hurwitz calling it "unquestionably the best Gershwin disc to come along in years."