Charles Halka Impact [West Coast Premiere]
Ana Lara Angeles de llama y hielo (Angels of Flame and Ice)
Christopher Rouse Supplica
James MacMillan Epiclesis (Tine Thing Helseth, trumpet) [U.S. Premiere]
In the splendor of the sanctuary at Mission San Juan Bautista, California’s treasured “Mission of Music,” Cabrillo Festival will celebrate its Grand Finale performances of the 2015 season.
The program begins with the West Coast premiere of Charles Halka’s Impact. Halka’s works draw on a diverse range of musical styles and are often inspired by language, visual imagery, movement and the human experience. The composer joins us for this performance of Impact – “an eight-minute work for large orchestra that explores an aural gesture best described as a heavy thud.”
Next is Angeles de llama y hielo (Angels of Flame and Ice) by Mexican composer Ana Lara. The Artistic director and the founder of Mexico’s International Festival Música y Escena, Lara has been celebrated as a “major and original voice” (Orange County Register). Angels of Flame and Ice is inspired by four poems by the Mexican writer Francisco Serrano – with each movement representing a certain angel: the angels of light, darkness, dusk and twilight.
The program continues with Christopher Rouse’s Supplica, meaning “supplication” in Italian. Rouse provides audiences very little explanation of his influence, save to say that he felt an inner compulsion to write the work and it possesses meaning for him “that must remain personal.” The composer offers it as an intimate and impassioned communication to be interpreted by each individual listener.
The Grand Finale concerts of our 2015 season close with the U.S. premiere of James MacMillan’s Epiclesis, a musical meditation on the mystery of the Eucharist and the idea of transformation of materials. “MacMillan writes brilliantly for brass. The trumpet is not used as a bravura expressionist, more as a virtuoso communicator,” wrote The Scotsman. Cabrillo Festival features Norwegian trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth, one of the leading trumpet soloists of her generation. Gramophone says she “is blessed with a combination of great wind-playing attributes: a soulful–dare one say brooding, Nordic–approach to phrasing, quite astonishingly outstanding intonation and a sound which is open and honest, even and focused in all registers.”
MEETUP! Between Concerts: Pack a basket and join other Festival goers for picnicking in the Olive Grove adjacent to the Mission. Post Evening Concert: Stroll to Jardines de San Juan restaurant (115 Third Street) to bid the Festival a fond farewell.
