“Derrick Spiva Jr. was recently announced as Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s artistic advisor,” writes Victoria Looseleaf in Monday’s (10/19) San Francisco Classical Voice. “In May, his most recent work for LACO … was a livestreamed excerpt from Prisms, Cycles, Leaps Part III: ‘To Be a Horizon,’ [which] includes rhythmic elements from Ghanaian drumming, Persian classical music, and Indian classical tala, as well as melodic elements found in West and North Africa, Bulgarian folk music, and American genres from blues and gospel to bluegrass music…. ‘Derrick is one of the most wildly creative and optimistic composers/educators I’ve ever encountered,’ says LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader.… LACO’s all virtual 2020–2021 season, ‘LACO Close Quarters,’ is a robust slate of 16 original digital programs with wide-ranging repertoire and visual elements, all directed by [LACO’s creative director of digital content] James Darrah…. Spiva’s LACO-commissioned newest work, Mother of Bravery,” is set for a January 29, 2021 premiere. Spiva is “excited about what comes next…. ‘My hope is that the broader classical community will be a bit more open to the use of technology in general. I would love to see more music videos from orchestras [and] more kinds of video/audio recordings becoming a staple.’ ”
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