Anthony Cheung's "Lyra" at the Cleveland Orchestra

by Ted Gordon on March 30, 2016, 12:48 p.m.

Having recently "built a bridge to Beethoven" with the premiere of his new work "Elective Memory" by Jennifer Koh, Anthony Cheung will see another performance of a Beethoven-inspired work: Lyra, which takes a cue from Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, at The Cleveland Orchestra. Cheung, who was named the Cleveland Orchestra's Young Composer Fellow for the 2016-17 season, is in the process of composing a new orchestral work to be premiered in that season; in the meantime, he oversees an encore performance of Lyra, which was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic with assistance from veteran composer Henri Dutilleux.

The Cleveland Classical blog has published a thorough preview of the performance, and Cleveland.com has published a slideshow previewing the work. Listen to the New York Philharmonic's premiere performance here, and check out a performance of Cheung's vis-à-vis, performed by Ensemble Linea, below:

Lerdahl at Lincoln Center

by Ted Gordon on March 24, 2016, 10:57 a.m.

Fred Lerdahl's three string quartets, written over a span of nearly thirty years, showcase the composer's remarkable talent for exploring the subtleties of the structure of music, forming a trilogy of works that function both as a unified whole and as individual units. The third quartet, commissioned by the Deadalus Quartet and premeired in 2008, is described by the composer as "[inhabiting] a world of abrupt mood changes, passionate urgings, quiet reveries, fantastical gestures, and sudden reminiscences." 

The Deadalus Quartet, which has recorded all three of Lerdahl's quartets on Bridge Records, will perform the work on March 24th at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, alongside works by Wolfgang Rihm, Helmut Lachenmann, and John Harbison. The evening will feature a conversation with Lerdahl himself, and will be live-streamed here. Check out the Deadalus Quartet performing the work below. 

String Theories features Mincek, Soper and Cerrone

by Ted Gordon on March 23, 2016, 11:17 a.m.

The String Orchestra of Brooklyn celebrates its fifth annual String Theories festival with three concerts at Roulette. From March 22nd to the 24th, the SoB will perform several world premieres, along with recent works from some of the most exciting composers of our time. 

On March 23rd, Alex Mincek's Ebb and Flow will begin the program—a piece commissioned by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn for their inaugural String Theories festival in 2011. The festival continues on March 24th with Kate Soper's Cipher for voice and violin, along with Christopher Cerrone's The Pieces That Fell To Earth, commissioned by the LA Philharmonic and premiering on the East coast for the first time. The program also includes music by Julia Wolfe and Alex Weiser. 

As a preview, check out Cerrone's 2013 commission from the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, High Windows: