Pulitzer Prize- and GRAMMY® Award-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis’s Flute Concerto was inspired by and written for Marina Piccinini. Its four movements explore darker and lighter elements in various dance forms, most of which begin calmly but end up spiraling out of control. Kernis describes the song-like Air as a love letter to the flute. His Second Symphony was composed at the time of the Persian Gulf War, and was the first of a seven-piece cycle of works about wars and political conflicts he wrote during the first half of the ’90s.
Hailed by Gramophone as “the Heifetz of the flute,” internationally renowned flutist Marina Piccinni’s rich artistic tapestry is woven from her multinational upbringing and vibrant, global perspective. Her extensive programs include premieres by Aaron Jay Kernis, John Harbison, Lukas Foss, and Paquito D’Rivera. She has appeared as a soloist with the Boston, Vienna, Tokyo, and Toronto National Symphonies, among others.