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World Premiere of Andrew Norman's Switch with Colin Currie and the Utah Symphony

Nov. 03, 2015

World Premiere of Andrew Norman's <em>Switch</em> with Colin Currie and the Utah Symphony

November brings world and national premieres of two major works by Andrew Norman: Switch, for solo percussion and orchestra, receives its world premiere and and Play its Canadian premiere.

Switch—commissioned by the Utah Symphony, BBC Radio 3 and the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation—debuts on November 6 and 7 with percussionist Colin Currie and the Utah Symphony, led by Thierry Fischer at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City. Of the work, Norman writes:

Cast as a single movement, Switch takes off where my orchestral cycle Play left off in exploring non-linear narrative structures and video game logic. The percussionist’s many instruments act as triggers, turning other players on and off, making them play forward and backward, and causing them to jump to entirely different musical worlds.

On December 11, Switch receives its European premiere with Colin Currie and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Barbican Hall, led by Sakari Oramo. Maestro Fischer and the Utah Symphony give the work’s New York premiere on April 29 as part of its tour to Carnegie Hall.

Norman’s Play, a large-scale orchestral work in three parts, has been hailed as “a sprawling, engulfing, furiously unpredictable piece” (Alex Ross) and called a work that “most clearly points up Norman’s staggering imagination and talent” (The Boston Globe). On November 15, Alex Pauk leads the Esprit Ochestra in the work’s Canadian premiere. Play is an evolution of Norman’s fascination with how “the physical act of playing an instrument becomes potent theatrical material” and “how the orchestra, as a meta-instrument, is played.”

Also this month, Daniel Stewart leads the Orlando Philharmonic in a performance of Norman’s The Great Swiftness. The performance takes place on November 6 at Orlando’s Bob Carr Theater.

For details on the performances, visit the utahsymphony.org, espritorchestra.com and orlandophil.org. 

To learn more about Andrew Norman, visit schott-music.com.

Andrew Norman
Switch (2015)
for solo percussion and orchestra
3(3.pic).3(3.ca).3(3.Ebcl).3-4.3.3.1-3perc-pno.hp-str
25’ 

Play (2013)
for orchestra
2(2.pic).2.2.2(2.cbsn)-4.3.2ttbn.1btbn.1-3perc-pno-str
47’

The Great Swiftness (2010)
for orchestra
2.2.2.2-2.2.0.0-2perc(vib)-str
4’

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