Five stars
Printing Partners Pops, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Sept. 19-21

Audacious, electrifying, endearing. From the upbeat Irving Berlin medley to the flirty Cole Porter encore, the talent ante kept escalating with the irrepressible song stylist Marilyn Maye and her combo (Ted Firth, piano; Tom Hubbard, bass; Jim Eklof, drums) and the blow-you-away virtuosity of the pops, jazz, bluegrass, Celtic, you-name-it cum classical string trio Tf3, swooping us into their music-making alongside the ISO players, all under the baton of principal Pops conductor Jack Everly. Maye’s contralto is a national treasure. Twined with her personality, an old song emerges as a newly minted view of the world. You haven’t really gotten to the core of “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” or “Misty” or “You’re Gonna Hear From Me” until you’ve heard it the Maye way. And then violinists Zach DePue and Nick Kendall and double bass player Ranaan Meyer wrapped themselves around their instruments with such verve you couldn’t tell where strings and wood began and hands and body ended. In rapid succession they traversed Dvorak, Bach, Monti and Leroy Anderson and Meyer’s inimitable interpretations for an “American Suite” and a breathtakingly memorable “Shenandoah/Fox Down.” ISO players kicked back and enjoyed and joined in heartily. It was the ultimate jam session with riffs you never could have imagined; a truly fitting program to introduce Printing Partners as the new title sponsor.