Jarrett Barr, baritone saxophone

Rhapsody for Baritone Saxophone was composed during the winter of 1983 and premiered in March of that year by the Los Angeles Committee on the Arts Symphony Orchestra with the composer as soloist. It was re-scored in 1985 for wind orchestra and premiered in July of that year by the U.S. Navy Band in Washington D.C. It is an energetic, neoclassical work in sonata form and was inspired by the Mozart wind concertos, primarily his Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, K.191. 

Mark Watters is a six-time Emmy Award-winning composer whose scoring credits include Doug’s First Movie, The Return of Jafar, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, The Pebble and the Penguin, and All Dogs Go to Heaven 2. Television credits include A Very Muppet Christmas and over 300 episodes of such series as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Tiny Toon Adventures, The New Pink Panther, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and 101 Dalmatians. Watters is an active arranger and conductor, having worked with such artists as Beyonce, Trisha Yearwood, Yo Yo Ma, Carrie Underwood, Mel Torme, Sting, Jennifer Hudson, and more. He has also guest conducted such orchestras as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony. Since 2017, Watters has been an Associate Professor at the famed Eastman School of Music where he heads the media composition curriculum and is the director of the Beal Institute for Contemporary Media and Film Scoring.

Program note provided by the composer