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Andrew Norman’s Suspend with Inon Barnatan and the North Carolina Symphony; Play Nominated for 2016 Grammy Award

Jan. 06, 2016

Andrew Norman’s <em>Suspend</em> with Inon Barnatan and the North Carolina Symphony; <em>Play</em> Nominated for 2016 Grammy Award

Pianist Inon Barnatan joins the North Carolina Symphony as soloist in Andrew Norman’s Suspend on January 15, 16, 17, and 19 with conductor Marcelo Lehninger. 

Suspend was commissioned in 2014 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic as part of “The Brahms Project”, a collaborative effort led by pianist Emanuel Ax that invited young composers to create companion pieces for some of Brahms’s most beloved works. Norman describes the 20-minute piece as a “fantasy” for piano and orchestra, “a rumination on the Brahmsian dualities of freedom and solitude, spontaneity and control, and sentiment and structure.” Apropos of Brahmsian dualities, the piece follows Brahms’ Tragic Overture on the program, with Beethoven’s “Emperor” piano concerto as the finale. 

Norman enjoys another pairing with Beethoven on January 22 with the Phoenix Symphony. Opening a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Tito Muñoz leads the orchestra in Norman's Unstuck, a 2008 orchestral work that musically documents the composer's challenges with writer's block.

Also recently announced is a 2016 Grammy Award nomination for Norman's major orchestral work Play in the category of Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Play was commissioned and premiered by Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in 2013. The work has since been hailed as “a sprawling, engulfing, furiously unpredictable piece” (Alex Ross) and a work that “most clearly points up Norman’s staggering imagination and talent” (The Boston Globe). 

For more information on Andrew Norman, visit schott-music.com.

For tickets and concert information, visit ncsymphony.org and phoenixsymphony.org.

Andrew Norman
Suspend (2014)
a fantasy for piano and orchestra
2.2.2.2-4.2.0.0-3perc-hp-str
20’

Unstuck (2008)
for orchestra
3(pic).2.ca.3(bcl, Ebcl).3-4.3.3.1-timp.3perc-pno-str
10’

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