“John McPherson has been Principal Trombone of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra for more than two decades,” writes Mark Morris in Wednesday’s (1/25) Edmonton Journal (Canada). “At this Friday’s Winspear concert … McPherson has, only temporarily, set his trombone aside to be the ESO’s composer-in-residence. He’ll be there to hear the orchestra play the first performance of his new orchestral work, Triune…. The ESO have featured his compositions before…. He first picked up the trombone when he was 10, and started composing seriously in the 1990s. Those works, though, were for friends rather than for outside commissions…. He credits [ESO Concertmaster Robert] Uchida for giving him the encouragement to take the compositional path that has led to becoming composer-in-residence and temporarily laying aside that trombone. The new work, Triune, explores life changes…. ‘It’s not a piece I would have written when I was younger, and it has three elements: grief, peace and liberation.’ … [He’s] working on his next large-scale work, a concerto for two horns and orchestra. He’s writing it for Allene Hackleman, the ESO’s Principal Horn, and Megan Evans, assistant principal. The ESO will première it in the 2017-2018 season.”
Posted January 27, 2017
