CHASING LIGHT

Rene Orth: Chasing Light
Stacy Garrop: Fredrick and Susan B. (Michelle Areyzaga, Soprano/ Sidney Outlaw, Baritone) (World Premiere | Festival Commission)
Aleksandra Vrebalov: This Kiss for the Whole World
Julia Wolfe: Pretty (West Coast Premiere)

For the second Festival concert, guest conductor Candillari leads the Festival Orchestra in works by Rene Orth, Stacy Garrop, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Julia Wolfe, presenting a palette of compositions that both illuminate and embolden.

The Festival will introduce composer Rene Orth to audiences for the first time with her piece Chasing Light. Connecting with the theme of light and iridescence, Chasing Light is a heart-pumping relay race through the orchestra. The piece captures not only the infinite energy of youth but also ageless, relentless anxiety – a colorful testament to the courage required to outrun our shadows.

The Festival presents the world premiere of a new song cycle for baritone Sidney Outlaw and soprano Michelle Areyzaga by Festival veteran Stacy Garrop. Frederick and Susan B. sets text sourced from correspondence, papers, and speeches of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony – leaders of two of the 19th Century’s most important social movements. This Festival Commission will explore Douglass and Anthony’s dynamic 45-year friendship and their unflinching courage in the face of opposition, painting their struggles in suffrage with vibrant historical hues.

For composer Aleksandra Vrebalov, “a kiss is a sign of an open heart, of acceptance.” This Kiss for the Whole World, inspired by Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and its message that mutual love and solidarity strengthen us against hardship and oppression, reflects how artists have always courageously responded to difficult times.

Julia Wolfe‘s West Coast Premiere of Pretty boldly refracts society’s complicated conception of feminine beauty. Returning to the less saccharine old English origin of the word – “cunning, crafty, clever,” Pretty is a raucous celebration – embracing the grit of fiddling, the relentlessness of work rhythms, and inspired by the distortion of rock and roll. Wolfe’s composition dares to strip away superficial layers, revealing the true colors of strength that lie beneath conventional beauty.