The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia will perform Tu ne sais pas, a world premiere commission by English composer John Tavener, on March 20 at the Kimmel Center. Music Director Ignat Solzhenitsyn will conduct the work, which features the orchestra’s principal cello, James J. Cooper III, and mezzo-soprano Katherine Pracht; the texts come from poems by French poet Jan Biès and from Islamic and Hindu sources. Tavener’s The World, a setting of a poem by Kathleen Raine for voice and strings, and Eternal Memory, for string orchestra and solo cello, are also scheduled for the “Composer’s Portrait” program focusing on Tavener; the orchestra also will perform Britten’s Prelude and Fugue, Op. 29, and Bach’s Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068. The orchestra, which has commissioned more than 70 pieces, performs music of the Classical and Romantic periods as well as new works. It was founded in 1964 under the name Concerto Soloists 16 by Marc Mostovoy, and became Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in 2000.
Posted March 17, 2009
