Brent Havens

Brent Havens conducts and arranges rock-band-with-orchestra programs performed by orchestras across the United States. In these directory listings he leads "The Music of Led Zeppelin," a concert pairing a live rock band and vocalist with a symphony orchestra playing his own orchestral arrangements of songs like "Kashmir" and "Stairway to Heaven." Listeners come for a hybrid sound: familiar rock songs carried by drums, electric guitar, and voice, thickened with strings, brass, and woodwinds.

Expect Havens's own orchestrations of Led Zeppelin songs, built to sit around a rock rhythm section rather than replace it. The evening typically opens with a driving number like "Black Dog" or "Good Times, Bad Times," using the orchestra to double and thicken the guitar riffs, then moves through moodier, string-and-woodwind-colored tracks such as "Kashmir," where the orchestra carries the song's modal, droning atmosphere. "All of My Love" leans on lush string writing behind the vocal line, and the program usually closes with "Stairway to Heaven," where the orchestra builds gradually from quiet acoustic textures to a full-tilt climax alongside the band. The core band, singer, and conductor travel together and rehearse fresh with each local orchestra.