New Jersey Symphony performs The Music of Led Zeppelin

Brent Havens conductor & arranger
Windborne Music Group
Justin Sargent vocalist
New Jersey Symphony

Bridging the gulf between rock n’ roll and classical music, conductor/arranger Brent Havens takes the podium to present The Music of Led Zeppelin, a program he scored to extend the listening experience of Led Zeppelin’s timeless tunes. Performed by an orchestra and amplified with a full rock band and screaming vocals, Havens and his ensemble capture Led Zeppelin’s “sheer blast and power” riff for riff while cranking out new musical colors. The 2-plus hour concert features 18 Zeppelin tunes, including "Stairway to Heaven," "Heartbreaker," "Black Dog," and "Immigrant Song."

“Our concept for The Music of Led Zeppelin was to take the music as close to the originals as we could and then add some colors to enhance what Zep had done,” says Havens. “The wonderful thing with an orchestra is that you have an entire palette of sounds to call upon. The band is reproducing what Led Zeppelin did on the albums, verbatim, and then having an orchestra behind the band gives the music richness, a whole different feel, a whole different sense of power.”

ABOUT BRENT HAVENS
Berklee-trained arranger/conductor Brent Havens has written music for orchestras, feature films, and virtually every kind of television. His TV work includes movies for networks such as ABC, CBS, and The Family Channel, commercials, sports music for networks such as ESPN and even cartoons. Recently, Havens worked with the Doobie Brothers and the Milwaukee Symphony, arranging and conducting the combined group for Harley Davidson’s 100th Anniversary Birthday Party Finale attended by over 150,000 fans. Havens just completed the score for the film Quo Vadis, a Premier Pictures remake of the 1956 gladiator film. Havens is arranger/guest conductor for four symphonic rock programs—the Music of Led Zeppelin, the Music of the Doors, the Music of Pink Floyd, and the Music of the Eagles.