The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), under artistic director and conductor Gil Rose, begins its 2005-2006 concert season with the North American premiere of Louis Andriessen's Trilogy of the Last Day. BMOP is one of the few professional orchestras in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Since its founding in 1996, BMOP has programmed 46 concerts of contemporary orchestral music, released ten world premiere recordings, and won eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming.
BMOP's season opens on November 4, 2005 with "Trilogy of the Last Day" at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. The program features Louis Andriessen's Trilogy of the Last Day, with special guest artist Tomoko Mukaiyama, piano and koto. This concert will also feature music by Evan Ziporyn and Julia Wolfe. In a rare US appearance, composer Louis Andriessen will speak with audience members about his work prior to the evening's performance.
Andriessen is widely regarded as the leading composer working in the Netherlands today and is a central figure in the new music scene. From a background of jazz and avant-garde composition, Andriessen has evolved a style employing elemental harmonic, melodic and rhythmic materials, heard in totally distinctive instrumentation. Andriessen has developed a cult-like following, and is considered one of the most prominent composers of Amsterdam's thriving new music scene. Rose explains, "Louis' following and notoriety is not as intense here as it is in Europe, but he is probably one of the five best known European composers in the US. He has adopted a great deal of American aesthetics and styles in his music, aligning himself with minimalists as well as serving as an inspiration for younger composers like Evan Ziporyn and Julia Wolfe."
Trilogy of the Last Day is a monumental work, bringing together a chamber orchestra including electric guitars and keyboards, vocalists, children's chorus, and piano/koto soloist. The unique and demanding solo part was written for Tomoko Mukaiyama, who is not only required to navigate a difficult piano part, but also to sing and play the koto, an indigenous Japanese instrument. Mukaiyama, who resides in Amsterdam, has collaborated with artists such as architects and fashion designers in hopes of developing new forms of performance, and composers ranging from Michel van der Aa to Frederic Rzewski have written pieces for her.
Recognized internationally as members of the Bang-on-a-Can All-Stars, composers Evan Ziporyn and Julia Wolfe both claim Andriessen as a creative influence. Ziporyn's The Ornate Zither and the Nomad Flute was premiered in March 2005 by the MIT Wind Ensemble with Anne Harley, soprano. Harley will join BMOP for the November performance.
Wolfe's The Vermeer Room is an orchestral work also influenced by Andriessen. Ziporyn once wrote of Wolfe's work, "One can sense the spirit of Stravinsky and Andriessen in The Vermeer Room." Wolfe, a recent recipient of the Academy Award by the American Academy for the Arts and Letters, has had her music performed by the San Francisco Symphony and American Composers Orchestra, among others.
"Trilogy of the Last Day" begins at 8 pm on Friday, November 4, 2005 at Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory (30 Gainsborough St., corner of Huntington Ave.) in Boston, MA. Pre-concert Program Notes with Louis Andriessen begin at 7 pm in the hall and is free for all ticket holders. Ticket prices are $10 for students with valid ID. Regular admission tickets are $19, $28, $38 based on seat selection. Seniors and members of partnering organizations receive a 10% discount. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (617) 363-0396 or visit www.bmop.org. Jordan Hall is handicapped accessible.