The Boston Modern Orchestra Project will open its 2009-10 season with “BIG BANG,” the first of four concerts focusing on an instrument or instrument family. On the November 13 program at Boston’s Jordan Hall, BMOP will perform three seminal works for percussion and orchestra: Edgard Varèse’s Ionisastion, for 37 percussion instruments and two electric sirens; Lou Harrison’s La Koro Sutro, with American gamelans constructed from aluminum slabs, empty tin cans, and galvanized garbage cans, plus harp, organ, and chorus; and Ballet Mécanique, George Antheil’s infamous 1924 work, in a version featuring eight synchronized Yamaha Disklaviers, three xylophones, four bass drums, tam-tam, electric bells, a siren, and three airplane propellers. The Providence Singers will serve as chorus for the Harrison work. Other themed concerts during BMOP’s current season will focus on winds (January 2010), strings (March 2010), and full orchestra (May 2010).
Posted October 30, 2009
