A few weeks ago, I interviewed NSO music director Gianandrea Noseda about the upcoming musical season. I asked him about the importance of presenting new music.
Imagine if in the time of Mozart, Mozart would have only performed Bach, or Monteverdi or Ockeghem or Guillaume de Machaut. We would not have Mozart's music. So nowadays we have to play all this music but still present new music. Only time will tell if that music will survive. We cannot judge it just by looking at the score, I have to make the decision which ones I would like to perform, but after that history will decide if that piece will have a long life, but our responsibility is just to present it in the best possible way.
American composer Teddy Abrams, dubbed "Maestro of the people," is known for making an impact in his community as the head of the Louisville Orchestra, exploring the connection between different musical genres. He will conduct the NSO in concerts titled “Serenades and Simple Songs” Nov. 12-14 at Lisner Auditorium. The program features the world premiere of Sarah Kirkland's Urge, an NSO co-commission composed for America's 250th. Based on a poem written specially for the piece by former poet laureate Tracy K. Smith, Urge was composed for Grammy-Award winning bass-baritone Will Liverman who will perform it in the concert.
Teddy Abrams will also pay homage to his longtime mentor, Michael Tilson Thomas, whose Street Song, for symphonic brass, imagines the "world of a musician, who after many after-hour gigs, greets the dawn."
Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments exploits the talents of the NSO's wind and brass players, while Tchaikovsky's homage to Mozart, the Serenade for Strings highlights the string section, fulfilling the composer's note: "the larger number of players in the string orchestra, the more this shall be in accordance with the author's wishes."
Teddy Abrams conducts the NSO in "Serenades and Simple Songs," Thursday, November 12 and Saturday, November 14 at Lisner Auditorium at the George Washington University.
The season will continue with the following programs:
“The Nutcracker and Cinderella” November 20, Schlesinger Hall, Nov 21-22 at Lisner. Marie Jacquot conducts Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Prokofiev’s Cinderella Suite and is joined by Jorge Federico Osorio in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 nicknamed “Elvira Madigan” after the 1967 movie.
The year comes to a close with the traditional Messiah concerts featuring the renowned Richard Egarr at the helm. Performances are December 16-17 at Lisner and December 18 & 19th at The Clarice and December 20 at Schlesinger Hall.
The NSO will be performing in six different venues this season: two each in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. They include:
The Lincoln Theatre, and Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The Center for the Arts at Strathmore in Bethesda, and The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland College Park.
The Center for the Arts at George Mason University in Fairfax, and The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria.
As you can see, a huge amount of planning went into meeting the challenges of finding not one, but 6 new performance spaces. Kudos to the musicians and staff of the National Symphony Orchestra for persevering and offering us a season that bridges boundaries, and that invites, to quote Maestro Noseda, “discovery and connection through music.”
Be listening to WETA Classical for weekly updates on NSO programs and chats with artists.
For more information, visit WETAClassical.org
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