Louis Andriessen: NY Premiere of Life Arrives at Last
(October 2011)
Life to Receive First New York Performance at Carnegie Hall; LA Phil New Music Group to Perform U.S. Premieres of Anaïs Nin and La GiròEyjafjallajökull’s volcanic eruption in Spring 2010 wreaked havoc much farther than Iceland’s borders. The Bang on a Can All-Stars, who were to give the U.S. premiere of Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s Life (2009) at Carnegie Hall in a portrait concert of the composer’s works, were stranded in Germany due to the volcanic ash it had emitted. Over a year later, the work will finally come to Carnegie’s Zankel Hall on November 5, 2011 in its New York premiere with the ensemble.
Andriessen, winner of the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for his opera La Commedia, describes Life as “a kind of contemporary Pictures at an Exhibition.” Whereas Mussorgsky based his work on the drawings and watercolors of Viktor Hartmann, the four short compositions that comprise Life accompany four short films produced by visual artist Marijke van Warmerdam. The music melds both European romanticism with American minimalism, and reflects the films in that each “is completely independent, but contains allusions to the others.” Written to suit the instrumentation of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the group gave the work’s world premiere in Milan in March 2010, one month before its anticipated U.S. premiere, and will again perform it at this New York premiere performance.
Life will receive another American appearance this season as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series on February 28, 2012. Fellow Dutchman Reinbert de Leeuw will lead the LA Phil New Music Group in this performance, which will also include the U.S. premieres of Andriessen’s monodrama Anaïs Nin (2009-10), featuring soprano Cristina Zavalloni, and La Girò (2010-11), with violinist Monica Germino.
> For more information on Louis Andriessen, click here.
> Further information on Performance: Life
> Further information on Work: Life
Photo Credit: Francesca Patella
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