“American trombonist Joseph Alessi is looking forward to rediscovering Singapore through its music,” writes Akshita Nanda in Tuesday’s (2/11) Straits Times (Singapore; subscription required). Though the New York Philharmonic’s long-time principal trombone has played frequently with the orchestra on tour, he “plays solo in Singapore for the first time at the Esplanade Concert Hall on Feb. 23 [when he] appears with the Singapore Wind Symphony and premieres a 20-minute concerto titled Empire, written for him by Singaporean composer Terrence Wong Fei Yang.… ‘Empire is the first significant addition to the trombone repertory from the region [says Alessi] and it is incredibly exciting for me to explore the unique musical ideas in the piece with musicians and audiences in Singapore.’ … A concert with Alessi is an ‘incredible privilege,’ says the Singapore Wind Symphony’s music director Adrian Tan, 37.” The score commissioned “brings together the composer’s long interest in gamelan music as well as his research into the 18th-century Mangkunegara empire of Central Java. ‘I’m just very honoured to have written for Joseph Alessi. It’s the longest piece I’ve ever written and, at this point of my life, it’s the best I’ve ever written.’ ”
Posted February 13, 2014
