Timo Andres' "Word of Mouth" at Carnegie Hall

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 9, 2015, 4:41 p.m.

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, one of America's finest chamber ensembles, is no stranger to new music. In fact, through long-term, innovative commissioning programs, Orpheus has comissioned and premiered dozens of new works by living composers—often explicitly linked to their lush performances of canonical European masterworks. 

Timo Andres has worked with Orpheus in the past, being chosen for their Project 440 commissioning project in 2010, and seeing his Thrive on Routine performed by Orpheus at Galapagos Art Space in 2012. For Andres' new commission, the composer meditates on American identity and the tradition of Sacred Harp singing, resulting in his new composition, Word of Mouth.

Named for the Word of Mouth Chorus, a widely-recorded Sacred Harp singing group from the 1970s, Andres' new piece premiered on February 7, 2015, in a program alongside works by Schubert and Mendelssohn, whose own Songs Without Words echoes Andres' exploration of the relationship between instrumental music and the human voice.   

The New York Times called Word of Mouth an "exhilirating chamber symphony suffused with optimism."

Check out the video below for more information. 

Three Premieres for PSNY Composers

by Ted Gordon on March 26, 2014, 12:35 p.m.

Only a week after announcing the publication of works by Marcos Balter, we're excited to spread the word about his upcoming World Premiere with the American Composers Orchestra on April 4th at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall! Balter's work, Favela, was commissioned by the ACO and draws sonic inspiration from the favelas of Brazil, Balter's home country. Check out Balter himself talking about this piece, his first for a full orchestra:

For those in New York, be sure to check out the Czech Center's 80th birthday celebration for Christian Wolff on March 27th. The program features the American premiere of Alex Mincek's Subito: No. 2, which premeired at the Ostrava Days fesitval last year. Musicians featured in the concert include Mincek himself, Christian Wolff, Philip Glass, Thomas Buckner, and many more. Mincek's Nucleus will also be performed on the second half of the concert. Check out an excerpt of Subito: No. 2 here:

For those in Boston, be sure to attend the Boston Modern Orchestra Project's concert on Friday, March 28th, which includes the American premiere of Lei Liang's Saxophone Concerto "Xiaoxiang", for saxophone and orchestra. The piece is an orchestration of his earlier work, Memories of Xiaoxiang, for saxophone and tape, available here on PSNY. Listen to a recording to be transported to the intersection of the rivers Xiao and Xiang during the cultural revolution, where Liang "search[es] for memories of realities, fragments of the truths in this broken, fractured, and scattered soundscape."

If you happen to be in Texas, Houston's Da Camera hosts Loadbang on April 8 for a performance of Christopher Cerrone's How to Breathe Underwater, Adrian Knight's 20 Maj, as well as works by Hannah Lash, Charles Wuorinen and Andy Akiho.