Tears Of Nature

Peter Shin: Relapse 
Carlos Simon: Tales–A Folklore Symphony (West Coast Premiere)
Andrea Reinkemeyer: Water Sings Fire
Tan Dun: The Tears of Nature (Beibei Wang, percussion)

Maestro Măcelaru leads the Festival Orchestra in works by composers Peter Shin, Carlos Simon, Andrea Reinkemeyer, and Tan Dun.

Composer Peter Shin’s music explores matters of national identity, social belonging, and other contemporary issues and has been described as “entirely fresh and personal” (New York Times). The Festival Orchestra performs Shin’s Relapse, a reflection on the composer’s upbringing as a Korean American.

Carlos Simon, whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism, was recently announced as Composer-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center. The Festival presents the West Coast premiere of his four-movement work, Tales–A Folklore Symphony, a composition exploring African American folklore as well as Afrofuturist stories.

The music of American composer Andrea Reinkemeyer has been described as, “hauntingly melodic and fun, dancing and almost running its way forward (Fanfare Magazine). It explores the interplay of visual metaphors, nature, and sound to create lush textures against churning rhythmic figures. Her piece, Water Sings Fire draws inspiration from Leigh Bardugo’s eponymous short story, a feminist origin myth to the Hans Christian Andersen classic, The Little Mermaid, in which themes of ambition and betrayal are explored allegorically through Ulla’s transformation from obscure mermaid to tempestuous sea witch.

The concert concludes with the percussion concerto, The Tears of Nature, by Academy and Grammy Award-winning composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). In writing about this work the composer says, “This work is about the beautiful sadness of nature’s predicament and the threat to our survival today. Throughout the music, nature’s tears tell us that the threat to our survival is ourselves.” Percussionist Beibei Wang is the featured soloist.