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US Premiere of George Benjamin's Dream of the Song at Tanglewood Festival

Jul. 11, 2016

US Premiere of George Benjamin's <em>Dream of the Song</em> at Tanglewood Festival

This year’s Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music boasts a diverse array of programming throughout the summer, most notably the US premiere of George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song, a major new work for countertenor, female chorus and orchestra.

Dream of the Song, Benjamin’s first new work since his groundbreaking opera Written on Skin, was premiered in 2015 with the countertenor Bejun Mehta, the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by the composer. The work sets verse by three major poets who spent formative years in Granada: Federico García Lorca, as well as 11th-century Hebrew poets Samuel HaNagid and Solomon Ibn Gabirol. Tanglewood’s US premiere performance takes place on July 25 with Stefan Asbury leading the Lorelei Ensemble alongside the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.

The Festival of Contemporary Music also features performances of Pierre Jalbert’s Visual Abstract on July 23, along with a new work by Erin Gee; as well as performances of Anders Hillborg’s Brass Quintet, Jonathan Harvey’s Song Offerings and Pierre Boulez’s Dérive I on July 24.

Also taking place during the Tanglewood season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Norway Pond Junior Minstrels, led by conductor Jacques Lacombe, give a performance of Carl Orff’s beloved Carmina Burana and Arvo Pärt’s Es sang vor langen Jahren (July 9). Renée Fleming joins the Emerson Quartet for Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite (July 13), and pianist Yuja Wang performs George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (July 17), conducted by Gustavo Gimeno. The festival rounds out with a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins (August 8) directed by Nic Muni, as well as a performance of Julian Anderson’s recent chamber work Van Gogh Blue (August 14).

For tickets and concert information, visit bso.org. 

Click below for more information on the composers:
Julian Anderson | George Benjamin | Alban Berg | Pierre Boulez
Erin Gee | George Gershwin | Jonathan Harvey | Anders Hillborg
Pierre Jalbert | Carl Orff | Arvo Pärt | Kurt Weill

George Benjamin
Dream of the Song (2015)
text (Eng, Sp) by Ibn Gabirol, Samuel HaNagid, and Federico Garcia Lorca with translations by Peter Cole
for countertenor, female chorus and orchestra
2ob-4hn-2perc-2hp-str(12.12.10.8.6)
14' 

Written on Skin (2012)

opera in three parts

text (Eng) by Martin Crimp
for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and countertenor

3(2.pic, 3.pic & afl).2.2.bcl(cl).cbcl.2(2.cbsn)-4.4(1.ptpt).3.1-4perc-hp-glass harmonica–bass viola da gamba-str
95’ 

Carl Orff
Carmina Burana (1936)
Cantiones profanae
for soprano, tenor and baritone soloists, SATB choir, children’s choir and orchestra
3(2,3.pic.).3(3.ca).3(1.ca. 2, 3.bcl).2.cbsn-4.3.3.1-timp.5perc-2pno.cel-str
65’

Arvo Pärt
Es sang vor langen Jahren (1984)
for alto or countertenor, violin and viola
4’ 

Alban Berg
Lyric Suite (1926)
for string quartet
32’ 

George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
for piano and orchestra
2.2.2.bcl.2asax.tsax.2-3.3.3.1-timp.2perc-banjo-str
16'

Pierre Jalbert
Visual Abstract (2002)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion
10’

Anders Hillborg
Brass Quintet (1998)
8’

Jonathan Harvey
Song Offerings (1985)
for soprano and chamber ensemble
fl(afl).cl-pno-2vn.va.vc.db
17’

Pierre Boulez
Dérive 1 (1984)
for flute, clarinet, vibraphone, piano, violin, and cello
7-8’

Kurt Weill
Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins) (1933)
ballet chanté in nine scenes
lyrics (Ger) by Bertolt Brecht


for soprano, 2 tenors, baritone, bass, dancer and corps de ballet
2(2pic).1.2.1-2.2.1.1-timp.perc-hp.pno.bnj(gtr)-str


35' 

Julian Anderson
Van Gogh Blue (2015)
for ensemble
fl.2cl-hp.pno-vla.vc.db
15’

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