Christopher Rouse at Cabrillo: Concerto for Orchestra receives World Premiere
(June 2008)
Christopher Rouse’s 60th birthday season begins with the world premiere of his latest work, Concerto for Orchestra, at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Commissioned by the Festival, Concerto for Orchestra is dedicated to long-time champion Marin Alsop in honor of the Festival’s administrative leadership, Ellen Primack and Tom Fredericks. Alsop will lead the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in the premiere performance at Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in California on August 1.Best known for his masterful orchestral writing, Rouse has gained particular attention in recent decades for his concerti. Concerto for Orchestra marks Rouse’s twenty-fourth orchestral work to date, eleven of which are concerti. Scored for standard orchestra, Concerto for Orchestra places focus on the skill of ensemble members, with soloistic passages ranging from sweeping lyricism to challenging virtuosity. Rouse departs from standard practice with the work’s form, however.
Says Rouse: “I decided to divide the concerto into connected halves… . The first half would be made up of five rather brief sections - fast, slow, fast, slow, fast - in which the fast parts would share and develop the same musical material, while the slow ones would share and explore different material. The second half would consist of two sections, a slow one and a fast one, each meant to represent a sort of ‘full blossoming’ of the related ideas from their counterparts earlier on. My hope was to draw the listener in more and more as the work progressed, with the final allegro building to a frenzied, almost hysterical, climax.”
Concerto for Orchestra will follow Alsop’s baton to Baltimore for an East Coast premiere on November 21 by Rouse’s hometown players, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Around the globe, Rouse’s birthday season unfolds with performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Saint Louis Symphony (Der gerettete Alberich), Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Symphony No. 2), Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Trombone Concerto), the New York Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Rapture), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Friandises), and the Minnesota Orchestra performing the world premiere of Rouse’s Oboe Concerto on February 5. Rouse will be in Minnesota to celebrate the premiere which takes place just prior to his February 15 birthday.
For more information on the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music click HERE
> Further information on Work: Concerto for Orchestra
Photo: Christian Steiner
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