In Friday’s (5/27) Seattle Times, Tom Keogh writes, “In a few short weeks, Gerard Schwarz’s 26-year era as Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s music director comes to a close. But the end of SSO’s current season will also complete the 14-year tenure of Samuel Jones as the organization’s distinguished composer-in-residence. Jones, who has written a number of original works for Seattle Symphony and turns 76 next month, is retiring, and he’s going out with a bang. … On June 2, Jones’ new composition, ‘Reflections: Songs of Fathers and Daughters,’ will have its world premiere on a bill with another debut (Paul Schoenfield’s ‘Freilach’), a Shostakovich symphony and a Liszt concerto featuring guest pianist William Wolfram. Schwarz will conduct the event (which repeats Saturday and Sunday) in Benaroya Hall. On Friday, Jones will be the artistic and personal focus of the symphony’s ‘Samuel Jones Celebration,’ a remarkable program bringing together several of his older and more recent works, including his Piano Sonata, soprano excerpts from ‘A Christmas Memory’ and a chamber version of his orchestral piece, ‘Janus.’ … Jones says the project amounts to a stylistic retrospective in which he hears, in stand-alone works, the development of his mature style over decades.”
Posted May 27, 2011
