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The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University March 27, 2006 | Vol. 35 No. 27
 
Works by Peabody Composers Headline Special Performance

By Kirsten Lavin
Peabody Institute

The Peabody Symphony Orchestra and a stellar cast of faculty and guest artists will present a program featuring two works by Peabody composers at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4. The evening is a special Baltimore preview of the April 7 encore performance by the orchestra at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York.

Under the baton of music director Hajime Teri Murai, Peabody orchestras have regularly won ASCAP awards for adventuresome programming of contemporary music, a distinction showcased in this program.

The evening will begin with two pieces by Peabody composers: Christopher Theofanidis' Rainbow Body and Michael Hersch's Arraché. Theofanidis, a member of the composition faculty, won the 2003 Masterprize Competition for this work when it was performed at London's Barbican Center with the London Symphony Orchestra. Commissioned by "Meet the Composer" and the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Rainbow Body has been recorded on the TELARC label with the Atlanta Symphony, conducted by Robert Spano. It was performed at Peabody in 2002 with Robert Sirota on the podium.

Hersch's Arraché was commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Yuri Temirkanov for the gala opening of the Music Center at Strathmore in February 2005. Arraché, meaning "torn away," is a five-minute piece for full orchestra minus percussion. Hersch wrote the piece while contemplating the fate of hostages taken in Iraq and says it was influenced by "thoughts of that unspeakable terror." Between completing his bachelor's and master's degrees at Peabody, Hersch spent a year at the Moscow Conservatory. Before the age of 30, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Prix de Rome and the Berlin Prize.

Gran Danzon: The Bel Air Concerto by the Cuban composer and jazz instrumentalist Paquito D'Rivera will showcase Peabody faculty member Marina Piccinini, widely recognized as one of the world's leading flute virtuosos. Piccinini gave the world premiere of the concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin and has subsequently performed the piece with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic. Piccinini has been described as combining flawless technical command, profound interpretive instincts and a charismatic stage presence--qualities that make each of her performances memorable.

The evening concludes with Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde featuring mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe, who holds an artist diploma from Peabody, and tenor Michael Hayes. Hanslowe has sung lead roles at the Metropolitan Opera and other major companies in the United States, including her recent appearance with the Baltimore Opera Company as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Hayes has sung with major companies both here and abroad, including the New York City Opera.

Baltimore tickets are $18, $10 for seniors, $8 for students with ID and are available through the Peabody Box Office at 410-659-8100, ext. 2.

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