“The Albany Symphony Orchestra’s 17th American Music Festival opens Wednesday in what will be five days of exploring new sounds, some of them ethnically inspired, from practiced hands to composers getting to hear their works performed professionally for the first time,” writes Geraldine Freeman in Monday’s (5/29) Daily Gazette (Schenectady, N.Y.). “ ‘It will be jam packed and extremely varied,’ said ASO music director David Alan Miller…. The meaty performances … begin later on Thursday with an open rehearsal of the 18-member Dogs of Desire … [featuring] pieces by David Mallamud, David Biedenbender and Andrew McKenna Lee [as well as] new commissions from Saad Haddad and Viet Cuong…. The Composer to Center Stage Reading Session will premiere works by Charles Peck, Roger Zare, and Benjamin Park. Miller chose these scores out of the 64 scores he received…. On Saturday night at EMPAC is the full ASO in a program of Picker, Theofanidis, Balch, and Reena Esmail’s new clarinet concerto with clarinetist Shankar Tucker.… Saturday [will also include a piece by] Michael Daugherty … that blends [Woody] Guthrie’s lyrics and melodies…. Other events include: a poetry reading, walk, two recitals, and a festival preview.”
Posted May 30, 2017
In photo: The Albany Symphony Orchestra
