The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announces the subject matter of the upcoming works to receive their world premieres by the Orchestra as part of the groundbreaking artistic collaboration with the MusicNOW Festival and Artistic Director Bryce Dessner. On Friday, March 21, the Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Louis Langrée, will premiere Nico Muhly’s Pleasure Ground, a portrait work depicting the life of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. On Saturday, March 22, Mr. Langrée and the CSO will premiere mountain, a new work by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang depicting the life of American composer Aaron Copland.
The CSO’s pioneering MusicNOW collaboration represents a spirit of experimentation permeating Mr. Langrée’s inaugural season as Music Director. The Orchestra will perform two unique concert programs during the festival weekend. In addition to Pleasure Ground, which also features baritone Nathan Wyatt, the Friday, March 21 performance also includes Mr. Dessner’s St. Carolyn by the Sea, featuring Bryce and his brother, Aaron Dessner, playing electric guitar solos with the full Orchestra. Bryce and Aaron Dessner are widely known as guitarists in the popular indie rock band The National. The CSO’s Grammy-winning ensemble-in-residence eighth blackbird will also perform Bryce Dessner’s Murder Ballades, while the Orchestra will bring the performance to a close with Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy.
On Saturday, March 22, in addition to David Lang’s new work, the Orchestra will perform Krzysztof Penderecki’s Polymorphia and Jonny Greenwood’s (of the rock band Radiohead) 48 Responses to Polymorphia. Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite wraps up the festival weekend.
Both performances will take place at Cincinnati’s historic Music Hall. Tickets for each concert are still available and start at $12. More information and tickets are available by calling the CSO Box Office at (513) 381-3300 or visiting www.cincinnatisymphony.org.
