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Orpheus Chamber Orchestra opens its 37th season Oct. 8 at Carnegie Hall with a program of Stravinsky, Bach and Beethoven. The evening leads off with the world-premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Concerto with Echoes. Kernis recently discussed his new work, the latest installment in the Orchestra’s New Brandenburg commissioning project:
Variety and Laura Karpman talk about the how her Ask Your Mama and how it came to be; based on an epic 1961 poem by Langston Hughes, the 104-minute score boasts an eclectic lineup including opera star Jessye Norman, jazz singer Nnenna Freelon, hip-hop band the Roots, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (George Manahan will conduct). Thanks to a recording Karpman discovered during her two years of research and writing, Hughes’ voice can be heard during portions of the show.
Although I don’t know Tchaikovsky from Brahms, the beauty of this festival is that I don’t have to. It’s about what you feel when the music starts, not about what you know. The combination of music, set against the canyonlands background is, in a word, stirring.
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim visited the Merestead estate in Westchester County, which will soon be home to composers when the it becomes an expansion of Copland House in a public-private partnership between the County and Copland House.
This disc features three world-premiere recordings of the music of pianist/composer John Musto. It sometimes seems as if Musto had decided not to leave a single sound effect unexploited, and the players abet him with gleeful enjoyment. Clarinetist Derek Bermel, himself a composer, displays a dazzling brilliance; violinist Nicholas Kitchen, cellist Wilhelmina Smith, flutist and conductor Paul Lustig Dunkel, and pianist Michael Boriskin (who also wrote the program notes) stand out for their virtuosity.
Laura Karpman talks to Vanity Fair about her Ask Your Mama: “haunting, fevered, restrained, and super-lush in turns, but always impressive.”
