Grace-Evangeline Mason Composes New Work for Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
This March, Grace-Evangeline Mason’s new work for orchestra, An Everywhere of Silver, premieres with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Jonathon Heyward.
Grace-Evangeline Mason’s An Everywhere of Silver, her new work for orchestra, receives its world premiere on March 6-8 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Jonathon Heyward as part of their EARTH/Songs Festival, also featuring Dvorák’s In Nature’s Realm and Mahler’s Das lied von der Erde on the program. Co-commissioned by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, An Everywhere of Silver is a 14-minute meditation on the power and fragility of nature.
This commission builds on Mason’s relationship with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, who gave the U.S. premiere of her 2021 work The Imagined Forest. The work was later recorded by the BSO for Sonic Trails, an immersive sound experience at Strathmore, and has since been championed by Music Director Jonathon Heyward, including performances with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
Inspired by the eponymous Emily Dickinson poem, An Everywhere of Silver reflects the composer’s persistent dialogue with poetry, literature, and visual arts that permeates her catalog.
“When composing An Everywhere of Silver for orchestra, I considered the vast, awe-inspiring environments we have here on earth, whether it be stark landscapes of ice or the seemingly unending depths of our oceans. It was the latter I was drawn to when I came across the poem of the same name by the American poet, Emily Dickinson, and was inspired by the imagery in her words,” explains Mason.
Dickinson's poem reads:
An everywhere of silver,
With ropes of sand
To keep it from effacing
The track called land.
The score conjures images of the vast depths of the dark ocean through a large wall of sound in the horns and brass, juxtaposed by graceful figures in the high woodwinds, celeste, harp, and metallic percussion to reflect the “silvery” surfaces referenced in the poem.
The composer comments: “The music travels through a collage of contrasting sections of stillness and motion, with fragments appearing and dissipating throughout the orchestra, reflecting the changing nature of the sea and the shifting relationship between the sea and the sand, nature and ourselves. There are more playful moments in the music as the sea traces, teases, and dances with the shoreline. The piece ends with an evocation of the waves; large sweeping strings lay the foundation for a strong statement of the melody in unison horns tracing above.”
Concert Information
Friday, March 6 at 8pm ET
The Clarice | College Park, MD
Sunday, March 8 at 3pm ET
Music Center at Strathmore | North Bethesda, MD
More info
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Jonathon Heyward, conductor
Russell Thomas, tenor
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
DVORÁK In Nature's Realm
GRACE-EVANGELINE MASON An Everywhere of Silver (World Premiere)
MAHLER Das lied von der Erde "Song of the Earth"
> Further information on Work: An Everywhere of Silver
Photo: Mark Mason