The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra are among the orchestras set to perform world premieres this month. On May 13, Music Director Manfred Honeck will lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Joan Tower’s Stroke, commissioned by the PSO and dedicated to Tower’s younger brother George, who suffered a stroke in 2008 at age 60. The concert will be broadcast via Skype to Tower’s brother in upstate New York. Also on May 13, the Buffalo Philharmonic will give the world premiere of Songbook, a violin concerto by Daron Hagen written in honor of the orchestra’s 75th anniversary, with Concertmaster Michael Ludwig as soloist. On May 14, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will conclude its season with the world premiere of Mar de Setembro (“September Sea”), a vocal tone poem by LACO’s composer-in-residence, Derek Bermel, written in homage to Los Angeles’s Latin community. Music Director Jeffrey Kahane will lead the orchestra in the Bermel work, which also features Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza. Mar de Setembro marks the tenth anniversary of LACO’s Sound Investment program, through which investors who pay an annual $300 membership fee can observe firsthand the development of a composer’s new work.
Posted May 11, 2011
