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.