John Sawoski Musical Directs for Academy Award Cinematography Nominees Event Saturday, February 25, 2011 – John Sawoski supervises, arranges, plays piano, and conducts the music for the Kodak Cinematography Awards Ceremonies (private event for cinematographers nominated for Academy Awards, featuring musical excerpts from the nominated films).
Friday, March 2, 2012 from 6:30 to 10:00 pm – John Sawoski continues to to arrange, orchestrate, and conduct for vocalist Gregg Marx, an Emmy-award winning actor who is the grandson of one of the Marx brothers. Marx’s show at Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles in November 2011 featured world-class musicians Jay Mason, Jack LeCompte, and Nedra Wheeler, performing an all Cole Porter show featuring John Sawoski’s arrangements. Cabaret Scenes said: Gregg’s “rich, smooth, resonant voice” is “so easy on the ears that one can listen to him for hours at a time,” John Sawoski provides “imaginative and effective arrangements,” and “bassist is too limiting a term for Nedra Wheeler because she makes her bass sound almost like a singer.” http://www.cabaretscenes.org/cabaret_reviews/2011/nov11/marx_gregg_11-11.html Gregg Marx’s upcoming performance at Maggiano’s Little Italy at The Grove features John Sawoski with Nedra Wheeler. Maggiano’s Little Italy at The Grove is located at 189 The Grove Drive Z80, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-965-9665). No cover charge or reservations necessary.
April 15, 2012 – OperaArts Festival John Sawoski plays keyboards with the orchestra for the OperaArts Festival of Opera & Art. Conductor: Gualtiero Negrini. Opera show begins at 2:00 p.m. and ends at 4:30. FREE to the public.
July-August 2012 – Pageant of the Masters John Sawoski plays first keyboard with the orchestra for his fifth consecutive summer in all performances of the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, CA. For more information about the Pageant of the Masters, please click on http://www.PageantOfTheMasters.com
Click on the photo to the upper left to see the Keyboard rig that John Sawoski used on The Pageant of the Masters, with 29 other musicians in the orchestra.
* Roland RD-700GX (Stage Piano) with K-RD700GX1 SuperNATURAL® Piano Kit and SRX-06 Complete Orchestra Wave Expansion Board
* HP DV7T-SE notebook with Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Quad Core Processor [(1.73GHz, 8MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to3.06GHz] and 1TB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive * Custom-built ACNT Windows 7 desktop computer with Intel(R) Core2 Quad Processor [Q6600 (TM) 2.4 GHz with 1064 MHz FSB] and 4 drive bays including a WD Raptor 150 GB 10k RPM system drive and several 1TB 7200RPM hard drives, in an Antec Sonata III case
The computers are each running: * Keyboard Wizard (from http://www.broadway-performance-systems.com/) * EastWest Quantum Leap Pianos – see: https://lapianist.com/quantum-leap-pianos/ * Kontakt 4, with numerous virtual instrument libraries including LA Scoring Strings, EastWest Colossus, EastWest Ra, EastWest Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra, EMU Proteus Pack, ToneHammer Propanium and Circle Bells, MicroHammer Imbibaphone and Music Box, and numerous custom samples
John Sawoski has recently played for numerous recording sessions, including a special Mahler arrangement of Schoenberg art songs, recorded with members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (like cellist Armen Ksajekian, pictured here) and LA Philharmonic.
Sawoski arrangement performed in concert by Lisa Vroman with Philly Pops® conducted by Peter Nero At the Philly Pops’ Springtime in Paris concert April 23, 2011 in Verizon Hall (Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia), Broadway vocalist Lisa Vroman and the orchestra performed Charles Aznavour’s “Formidable” arranged for her by John Sawoski (and orchestrated by Patrick O’Neil), along with a generous helping of other popular music from France, popular music saluting France, and instrumental music from the early twentieth century, from Debussy and Ravel to Cole Porter’s greatest French tunes.
Lessons and Carols – Sunday, December 18, 2011 John Sawoski accompanied three choirs and several soloists in A Festival of Lessons and Carols at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Los Angeles under the direction of renowned composer Christopher Walker.
Disneyland Candlelight Concert The first weekend of December 2011, John Sawoski played keyboards for Disney’s massive Candlelight Concert with full orchestra and 600-voice choir. For YouTube video, please click http://youtu.be/7poDIm1F_Ac
An Officer and A Gentleman opens in Sydney in May The new musical An Officer and A Gentleman, for which John Sawoski did the initial music preparation (copying, transcribing, adapting, and some arranging), will be opening in Sydney May 18, 2012. For more information, please click http://www.anofficerandagentleman.com.au/
The History Channel UK with Tonia Bern-Campbell Throughout 2011, a film called Bluebird: The Curse of Campbell aired in the UK on the History Channel, about English speedboat racer Donald Campbell, who died in a spectacular crash on England’s Coniston Lake trying to break a record. In the film, John Sawoski appears accompanying Campbell’s widow, Tonia Bern-Campbell, at her show in Palm Springs, which was videotaped by Sky News / The History Channel in November 2010.
Other Continuing Engagements:Sundays 9:30 am and various other times: John Sawoski accompanies for the Caritas Chorus at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Parish in Los Angeles under the direction of renowned composer Christopher Walker, on the 2nd and 3rd Sunday of each month. St. Paul’s is located at: 10750 Ohio Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Copyright 2012 John Sawoski, PO Box 7060, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. (310) 590-6000. All rights reserved
Historical note: This article originally appeared on John Sawoski’s former website in February 2012. It has been reformatted for accessibility, with obsolete links repaired or removed. Scroll down for a screenshot of the original page.
The featured image above is the production of Ed Begley, Jr.’s “César and Rubén” at Santa Monica College that was re-orchestrated by John Sawoski
Below is a screenshot of how this page looked on John Sawoski’s former website.
