Broadcast Partner
Christopher Rouse: Thunderstuck [West Coast Premiere]
Christopher Rouse: Oboe Concerto (Katherine Needleman, oboe) [West Coast Premiere]
James MacMillan: Death of Oscar
Anna Clyne: RIFT a symphonic ballet (Kitty McNamee, choreographer, Hysterica Dance Co.) [World Premiere | Festival Commission]
Please note the program order has changed, as shown here. The program book will not reflect this change.
Kicking off a momentous season, our Opening Night program manifests Marin Alsop’s strength and loyalty, featuring composers to whom she has been deeply devoted, and works that show the power of her conviction and skill. The concert includes two pieces by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer Christopher Rouse, whose work The New York Times called “among the most intriguing orchestra music now being written.” The Festival presents the West Coast premiere of Thunderstuck. An homage to the popular music of Rouse’s younger days in the late 60s and early 70s, it is a rock-infused piece that he describes as “a love letter to the exuberance and the inventiveness of the music of that era.” Oboist Katherine Needleman will be featured soloist for the West Coast premiere of Rouse’s Oboe Concerto. “Taking full advantage of the instrument’s plangent qualities, the composer sends the oboe on remarkable flights of lyrical breadth (and breath),” wrote Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun. Composer Sir James MacMillan has shaped a musical language infused with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and Celtic folk music. The composer’s work is an often programmed favorite of Alsop’s, and this year she includes Death of Oscar, a miniature tone poem that draws upon the legend of the bardic poet Ossian and the death of his son Oscar. The evening closes with the world premiere presentation of the newest work by London-born composer Anna Clyne. RIFT was commissioned by the Cabrillo Festival and created in partnership with choreographer Kitty McNamee. A 25-minute symphonic ballet in five-movements, RIFT will be performed by the Hysterica Dance Co. and presented with lighting and visual design by Tom Ontiveros. “Drawing upon an ancient sound world with morphing sonorities.” Clyne explains, “the present will collide with ancient ritualistic folklore through a spiraling narrative that has sudden and unexpected ruptures. Time, space and sound will be cleaved apart as our protagonist hurtles back to a more orderly, delicate, romantic beauty.”
The world premiere performance of RIFT is supported by a generous grant from New Music USA, one of the foremost supporters of the creation of new works in America. You can follow this project and others at NewMusicUSA.org.
MEETUP! The 2016 season begins with an outdoor Pre-Concert Talk with Marin Alsop and a special ticketed dinner prepared by Feast for a King and served alfresco at the Civic Auditorium. Reservations required.
Photo credits, clockwise from left: Katherine Needleman (Anne Hornemann), Hysterica Dance Company (Yi-Chun Wu), Anna Clyne (Javier Oddo), Christopher Rouse (Jeff Herman), Kitty McNamee.
