The Springfield Symphony Orchestra in western Massachusetts has commissioned a new piano concerto by Kenneth Fuchs, to be performed in the orchestra’s 2015-16 season with Jeffrey Biegel as soloist. Music Director Kevin Rhodes will lead the three-movement work inspired by three artworks by abstract-expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler: Spiritualist (1973), Silent Wish (1973), and Natural Answer (1976). In a press release, Fuchs notes that he has used images of Frankenthaler’s works on the covers of five recordings of his music and that for several years he had wanted to write a three-movement concerto based on these canvases. The Springfield Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1944, performs classical, pops, and family concerts at Springfield Symphony Hall; it also runs a youth orchestra and performs education concerts at its concert hall and in area schools. Pianist Biegel has previously worked with composers including Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Charles Strouse, Lowell Liebermann, William Bolcom, and Jake Runestad in commissioning new music with a variety of American orchestras.
Posted June 11, 2014
