Pennsylvania Premiere of Judith Lang Zaimont Solar Traveller Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra on May 2 at Slippery Rock University
Posted by s21concerts in Concert Announcement
The Pennsylvania Premiere of Solar Traveller – Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra by Judith Lang Zaimont will be presented by the SRU Wind Ensemble, Brian Meixner, conductor, on Sunday, May 2 at 2:30 PM in Miller Auditorium of the Department of Music at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. The pianist is SRU Professor Dr. Nanette Kaplan Solomon – (http://academics.sru.edu/music/SRU%20Music%20Faculty/nanettesolomon.html).
Also on the program are Asphalt Cocktail by John Mackey, Ride by Sam Hazo, Sunrise at Angel’s Gate by Philip Sparke, and Symphony for Band by Morton Gould. As part of the May 2 performance, Zaimont will offer a pre-concert lecture about her concerto at 1:30 PM.
During her campus visit, Ms. Zaimont will present an open lecture for the University and community titled “Considering Style” at 4 PM on April 29 in the Department of Music’s Swope Recital Hall and will visit music theory classes and work with composition students on April 30. She will also spend time with the wind ensemble as part of its dress rehearsal.
The composer has written about the new Concerto, “Inspired by the vastness, wonder, and beauty of sky and space, the Solar Traveller concerto is in three movements: Outward Bound, Nocturne (Lunar), and Ad astra per aspera. We encounter music as desolate and unfamiliar as a lunar landscape—largely expansive, as if in ‘stopped’ time. The name of the third movement, Latin for “To the stars through difficulties,” is reflected in cross-rhythms, chromatic clashes, and a prominent role for the percussion section. Across the three movements both soloist and the ensemble experience the long-term compressive forces of space flight in musical terms.”
The SRU Wind Ensemble (http://academics.sru.edu/music/ensembles-instru.html) commissioned the work along with faculty members at the Eastman School of Music, Indiana State University, Louisiana State University, Shepherd University, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern Mississippi.
For tickets and information about the May 2 concert, call 724-738-2063 or visit http://academics.sru.edu/music/index.html.
More information about Ms. Zaimont, including sound clips of many of her compositions, is available at her website http://www.jzaimont.com/ and at her MySpace page – http://www.myspace.com/judithlangzaimont.
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