In Saturday’s (10/29) Times-Picayune (New Orleans), Chris Waddington writes, “Ellen Taaffe Zwilich works with the best. The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer has penned concertos for superstar fiddlers such as Itzhak Perlman and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. Both the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony commissioned her to write symphonies. On Saturday (October 29), at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts, it’s the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in the spotlight with Zwilich. Led by music director Carlos Miguel Prieto, the feisty, player-owned orchestra will present the world premiere of ‘Shadows for Piano and Orchestra’ with soloist Jeffrey Biegel. … ‘I’m thrilled that ‘Shadows’ is getting a premiere in New Orleans. I have heard wonderful things about the LPO and about Prieto. He has a reputation for bringing new works to life,’ Zwilich said. Zwilich’s work always has reflected American idioms, and her New Orleans commission is no exception, pianist Biegel said. ‘Jazz and blues has crept into her work more and more in the years since she won the Pulitzer,’ he said. … Zwilich avoids lofty comparisons in describing ‘Shadows.’ For her, it’s a piece that lets her explore the coloristic possibilities of piano hammers striking strings.”
Posted October 31, 2011
