Orchestra Underground: Eastern Wind | American Composers Orchestra

Zankel Hall @ Carnegie Hall
Friday April 1, 2016 at 7:30 pm

ACO looks East, capping-off ACO’s Underground Season with a program, which includes three world premieres, drawing on Indian and Middle Eastern music. Mehmet Ali Sanlikol (“colorful, fanciful, full of rhythmic life” The Boston Globe) sings and plays the Ud (Turkish lute) in a premiere using classical Ottoman composition techniques, with long rhythmic cycles, and a poem by Sufi dervish Edib Harabi. Reena Esmail, who is Indian-American, explores her Hindustani roots in a multimedia premiere that focuses on first impressions and Indian rhythmic cycles. Iranian-American composer Gity Razaz (“limpid Impressionist timbres, ravishing and engulfing throughout” New York Times) explores the internal and psychological stages of Narcissus’ metamorphosis. Matthias Pintscher reflects on his time spent in Israel as he creates a musical dialogue of the voices in Solomon’s Song of Songs, with mixed emotions of love found and love lost and features baritone Steven LaBrie. Saad Haddad, a first generation Arab-American, premieres his piece combining electronics and traditional performance practices of Arabic musicians, with antiphonal trumpets serving as musical “beacons” for the orchestra.

Saad Haddad‘s Manarah (“beacon” in Arabic), commissioned by ACO, is scored for two digitally processed antiphonal trumpets and orchestra, and borrows from the performance practices of Arabic musicians, particularly Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum. Harabat – The Intoxicated by Mehmet Ali Sanlikol was commissioned by ACO and Carnegie Hall, is inspired by the classical Ottoman/Turkish music tradition and features a poem by a late 19th/early 20th century Sufi dervish. Reena Esmail‘s Avartan, also commissioned by ACO, is inspired by the “avartan,” a rhythmic cycle featured in Hindustani music and is paired with video by Neeraj Jain. The Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Gity Razaz is based on Salvador Dali’s portrayal of the Greek myth. The work is a musical drama reflecting on the internal and psychological transformation of Narcissus, beginning with his obsessive self-infatuation, moving through his drowning in the pond that reflected his image, and ending with his rebirth as the narcissus flower. Matthias Pintscher‘s songs from Solomon’s garden is based around the Biblical Song of Songs, and draws on the Hebrew language for rhythmic patterns and gestures.

The Program:

SAAD HADDAD: Manarah
(World Premiere. ACO Commission.)
GITY RAZAZ: The Metamorphosis of Narcissus
MEHMET ALI SANLIKOL: Harabat / The Intoxicated
(World Premiere. ACO/Carnegie Hall Commission.)

– intermission –

REENA ESMAIL: Avartan
(World Premiere. ACO Commission.)
MATTHIAS PINTSCHER: Songs from Solomon’s Garden

You can learn more about the composers here…

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