European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

George Benjamin Featured as 2010 Ojai Music Festival Music Director; Into the Little Hill in West Coast Premiere

Jun. 08, 2010

George Benjamin assumes the position of Music Director for the 2010 Ojai Music Festival as he leads several ensembles including the Ensemble Modern through performances of his own works and others throughout the festival. One of the highlights of the festival this year is the West Coast premiere of Benjamin's lauded chamber opera Into the Little Hill on Saturday, June 12. Dubbed by the London Telegraph the "opera of the decade," Into the Little Hill sees its west coast premiere in a concert performance featuring the Ensemble Modern with soprano Anu Komsi and contralto Hilary Summers at the Libbey Bowl.

Since its premiere in 2006 by the Ensemble Modern at the Festival d'Automne in Paris, George Benjamin's lyric setting of the Pied Piper tale for soprano, contralto and an ensemble of 15 players continues to dazzle critics and audiences in Europe and the US. Rupert Christiansen of the Telegraph writes, "this is something quite exceptional, both in the originality of its form and the depth of its inspiration... not a note is wasted, the dramatic pacing is impeccably controlled." Andrew Porter writing in Opera comments, "Into the Little Hill, despite its brevity, lived on for days in my mind and lives on as I write as a 'big' important opera." The work has made a historic run of awards including the Diapason d'Or, the Royal Philharmonic Society Large-Scale Composition Award and the Coup de Coeur' from the Académie Charles Cros.

Benjamin also sees performances of his Viola, Viola and At First Light, on Sunday, June 13 as well as works by Saed Haddad, Pierre Boulez, Elliot Carter, Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen and others throughout the festival.

For more on the music of George Benjamin, please visit www.fabermusic.com.

More details and ticketing information on the Ojai Music Festival can be found at www.ojaifestival.org.

George Benjamin
Into the Little Hill (2006)
A Lyric tale in two parts for soprano, contralto and ensemble of 15 players
fl(pic, bfl).2 basset hn in F.cbcl-2crts.ttrbn-cimbalon-perc-2vn(2.mandolin).2
va(2.banjo).2 vc.db (lowest string tuned to C)
40'

At First Light (1982)
for chamber orchestra of 14 players
1(afl.pic).1.1(bcl).1(cbsn)-1.1(ptpt)1.0-perc-pno(cel)-2 vn.va.vc.db
20'

Viola, Viola (1997)
for viola duo
10'

News