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UK Premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo's a raft, the sky, the wild sea

Nov. 26, 2022

On November 2, soloist Joe Lovano and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Joshua Weilerstein, performed the UK premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo's a raft, the sky, the wild sea at Royal Festival Hall in London as part of a program titled "American Dreams."

a raft, the sky, the wild sea, a concerto for improvising tenor saxophone and orcehstra, was premiered by Joe Lovano and The Fort Worth Symphony, under the baton of Robert Spano on October 14-16 at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Douglas J. Cuomo describes his new composition:

"The central inspiration for this work is the idea of a journey through the unknown, expressed in two ways. On an intimate level it reflects an individual spiritual exploration; on a global level it grapples with the realities faced by the millions of children, women, and men throughout the world who are forced to flee their homelands in search of a better life."

The Winston-Salem Orchestra, the third co-commissioner of the concerto, will perform the work in fall 2023.

Additionally, guitarist Nels Cline and The Overlook string quartet performed the New York City premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo's evening-length piece, Seven Limbs at Roulette in Brooklyn on October 24. View the livestream of the performance below.


(Nels Cline and The Overlook string quartet perform the NYC premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo's Seven Limbs)

Cuomo describes his conception of Seven Limbs:

"This piece is inspired by an ancient Buddhist purification ceremony called The Seven Limbs. It’s part of a meditation practice I do every day. The practice has lots of words; the piece has none. The feel of this ceremony is what I kept going to as I composed, and then at some point I realized I was setting text without using words. For me Seven Limbs is a dream-like piece; I can look inward to a new terrain and find out what’s there. Stillness, turmoil, suppleness, euphoria, high drama. I wrote it for Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet because, for composers, to write for great players is another kind of dream. Together, we offer you our dream, in the hope it makes some connection with you."

To learn more about Douglas J. Cuomo, visit: schott-music.com.

Douglas J. Cuomo
a raft, the sky, the wild sea (2022)
concerto for improvising tenor saxophone and orchestra
3(1.pic, 2.afl).3(1.ca).3(1.bcl)3(1.cbsn)-4.3.3(1.btbn).1-timp.3perc(I. b.d, chimes, clav, crot, glsp, hi-hat, mark tree, s.d, lg tam-t, tri, 3 sus cym; II. chimes, glsp, mar, mark tree, s.d, 3 sus cym, lg tam-t, tamb, tom-t, vib, xylo; III. b.d, chimes, mark tree, s.d, sus sizzle cym, tri, vib, wdbl, xylo)[some perc instruments can be shared, contact publisher for details]-pno.hp-str
30'

Seven Limbs (2020)
for electric guitar and string quartet
75'

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