March 3rd will see the second debut of a Matt Schwarz orchestral work - the Taliesyn Overture. Sleepy Hollow guitarist Matt Schwarz took a break from orchestrating his string quartet to arrange this work for the Castle Rock Orchestra's British-themed concert. The overture is an arrangement of a medieval-influenced metal song about King Arthur called "The Song of Taliesyn", which Matt wrote in his pre-Sleepy Hollow days in the 90s - a song which has yet to see a recording or live performance (although Matt has rehearsed it with other musicians over the years). The original arrangement was rather Iron Maidenish, but Matt later rearranged it in a kind of "Stairway To Heaven" acoustic beginning (with harp and flutes) that kicked into electric metal in the second half. When CRO leader Matt Rose mentioned he was planning a British-themed concert for the orchestra, Matt (Schwarz) played him a demo of "The Song of Taliesyn", and when Mr. Rose accepted it, Matt got to work on orchestrating it this past December. The orchestral version replaced the lyrics with a narration on King Arthur, but Matt decided to retain his harp intro (at least for the very beginning), as well as the guitar solo (which trades off with piccolo in a rather Tull-inspired move - to be performed by CRO first flutist Shawana Quirk). It promises to be a stirring piece of music. It will be performed on March 3, 2013 in Castle Rock, CO - check the gig page for details!