Evening star., 1938-06-19
.Ferde Grofe
To Be Guest I
Arrangements Are
Made for Sunset
Symphonies.

FERDE oRoFE. Leading exponent
Of modern American music and
weu-known composer conductor, viii
be guest director Of the National
Symphony Orchestra in . concert
during its Sunset symphonies" to
be given at the Water Gate, near Lin
coin Memorial. beginning July 10.
Tne fourth guest conductor TO be
announced for the summer concert
series, Mr.. Grofe will be leader of
the orchestra on Wednesday evening.
july II. DR.. Hans Kinder, conductor
OF the National Symphony Orchestrs.
Will be musical director Of the Sum
set Symphonies" and will conduct the
concerts OF July 10. Is and August II.
Mr.. orofe won his reputation a An
orcnestrator Of jazz and then became
famous as . composer In his own
right Of programmatic and descrtp-
tive works in the symphonic taxs
1diom. A list Of the titles Of some
OF his outstanding compositions Il q
revelation Of the field Of music In
which Mr.. 0rofe Is . pioneer-"Mts.
sissippi Suite" THE Grand Canyon
Suite" Tabloid" "Knute Rockne."
Rhapsody in Steel" Hollywood Bal
let." and his latest work, "Ode to
viii Rogers"
Born in New York, Mr.. orofe was
good pianist ut s and ut 16 had
composed . march for brass band.
Before he was 20 he was Q member
OF the viola section Of the Los An
geles Symphony Orchestra. Shortly
after the armistice he moved to San
Francisco, where he was engssed as
pianist In the Portola Louvre. In the
Fsirmount Hotel In the same city an
unpretentious little six-piece orches-
tra was playing-its leader, Paul
Whiteman. Whiteman was attracted
by the young pianist's playing and
noticed that some Of the music was
actually being played from notes 3ot-
ted on the backs Of menu cards-an
unheard-of thing in the JAM Of those
days.
When Whiteman found out that Mr..
Grofe had made the arrangements of
this music. he hired him as pianist
and there began . fruitful collabora-
tion that had important results in
American music-notably, In the his
tory-making premiere Of the "Rhap-
sody In Blue" It was on February
IL. 1924, that Whiteman's Orchestra
played the famous Gershwin compost
ton in Carnegie Hall. Ferde 0rofe's
orchestration Of the work was used at
that time. It made the regulations
Of the three men.
Later Mr.. Grofe left the whiteman
Orchestra to follow his own career as
composer and conductor. Since then
he has been guest conductor Of such
famous ensembles as the Philadelphia
Orchestra in Robin Hood Dell and
the Los Angeles Philharmonic Or
chestra at Hollywood Bowl. His con-
cert Ut the bowl last season attracted
the largest crowd in the history Of
outdoor concerts there. In addition,
he gave two highly successful Carnegie
Hall programs emphasizing modern
<AAAsoAASon A1unAC Will Ia OIC108tlA OI
his own this season.
Ticket plans for the "sunset Sym
phonies have been completed, accord
ing to an announcement made by G. c.
Cappel, manager Of the National Sym
phony. Tickets for single concerts
at the Water Gate will be Is, 50, rs
cents and 81. In the 81 section. q
season ticket for . reserved, numbered
seat costs IS for six concerts; In the
75-cent section, with seats also num-
bered and reserved, a for six concerts;
for an unreserved chair In the 50-cent
section, $3.50 for SIX concerts. Seat
pads for Use on the steps ut the Water
Gate can be purchased for $50 for six
concerts.
AL tickets are dated. Each ticket
includes q rain check, which can be
used for the same program the fol-
lowing night in case 0 concert Is
postponed because Of rain before In
termission time.
Advance sale Of season tickets will
begin tomorrow morning at the Ma
tional Symphony box ONCE on the first
floor Of the Julius Garfinckel b Co.
store, Fourteenth and r streets NV,
or through telephone.