“The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) has awarded composer Carlos Bandera its 2018 Underwood Commission, which is a $15,000 commission for a work to be premiered by ACO in a future season,” reads an unsigned Friday (7/13) article at NewMusicBox. “Chosen from six finalists during ACO’s 27th Underwood New Music Readings on June 21 and 22, 2018, Bandera won … with his work Lux in Tenebris. In addition … the Audience Choice Commission … winner this year was composer Tomàs Peire Serrate, for his piece Rauxa…. Serrate also receives a $15,000 commission from ACO for a composition to be premiered in a future season…. Bandera (born 1993) … often [places] a musical quotation, be it a phrase, scale, or sonority, within dense microtonal textures…. Lux in Tenebris was inspired by the music of Anton Bruckner…. Serrate (born 1979) says, ‘Rauxa … is a Catalan word used in pair with another one, Seny, meaning balance and sensibleness, to describe or refer to the Catalan people and their character…. I worked on sketches and sections of Rauxa in different moments and places, always away from my home country, Catalonia, and I kept coming back to it.’ ”
Posted July 17, 2018
