2023/06/09

PROGRAM TO INCLUDE
Britten
Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

Takemitsu
I hear the water dreaming

John Luther Adams
Become Desert (New York Premiere–New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with the Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra)

Britten’s Four Sea Interludes depicts foreboding ocean moods and a vicious storm. Takemitsu’s I hear the water dreaming, featuring Principal Flute Robert Langevin as soloist, portrays the role of water in an Australian aboriginal myth. John Luther Adams’s Become Desert dramatizes one of the many consequences of human activity on our planet. The composer regards the work as “both a celebration of the deserts we are given, and a lamentation of the deserts we create.”

2023/06/08

PROGRAM TO INCLUDE
Britten
Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

Takemitsu
I hear the water dreaming

John Luther Adams
Become Desert (New York Premiere–New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with the Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra)

Britten’s Four Sea Interludes depicts foreboding ocean moods and a vicious storm. Takemitsu’s I hear the water dreaming, featuring Principal Flute Robert Langevin as soloist, portrays the role of water in an Australian aboriginal myth. John Luther Adams’s Become Desert dramatizes one of the many consequences of human activity on our planet. The composer regards the work as “both a celebration of the deserts we are given, and a lamentation of the deserts we create.”

2023/05/26

The Chelsea Symphony, in collaboration with composer Shuying Li, presents Li’s World Map concertos, featuring members of the Four Corners Ensemble in all new orchestrations of the concertos for chamber orchestra. Originally written for and recorded by the Four Corners Ensemble, each concerto journeys to a different country or region around the world, highlighting the diverse backgrounds of each featured musician. The evening opens with a new work by Aaron Dai and closes with John Luther Adams’s Become River, bringing the theme of world exploration together through the bodies of water that connect us all.

PROGRAM

Aaron Dai
New Work (World Premiere)

Shuying Li
The Dryad (Version Premiere)

Shuying Li
American Variations (Version Premiere)

Shuying Li
The Peace House (Version Premiere)

Shuying Li
Matilda’s Dream (Version Premiere)

Shuying Li
Canton Snowstorm (Version Premiere)

John Luther Adams
Become River (NY Premiere)

2023/04/08

Proximity is a gripping, powerful trio of new works that confronts head-on some of the greatest challenges affecting us as a society: yearning for connection in a world driven by technology; the devastating impact of gun violence on cities and neighborhoods; and the need to respect and protect our natural resources. As the story zooms in and out from the individual to the community to the cosmic, we find ourselves in a compelling snapshot of 21st-century life, with all of its complex intersections and commonalities. This new Lyric commission, bringing together a complement of some of the most important creative minds of our time, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and the MacArthur Genius Grant, promises to be by turns riveting, provocative, and inspiring.

Language: Sung in English with projected English titles

2023/04/05

Proximity is a gripping, powerful trio of new works that confronts head-on some of the greatest challenges affecting us as a society: yearning for connection in a world driven by technology; the devastating impact of gun violence on cities and neighborhoods; and the need to respect and protect our natural resources. As the story zooms in and out from the individual to the community to the cosmic, we find ourselves in a compelling snapshot of 21st-century life, with all of its complex intersections and commonalities. This new Lyric commission, bringing together a complement of some of the most important creative minds of our time, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and the MacArthur Genius Grant, promises to be by turns riveting, provocative, and inspiring.

Language: Sung in English with projected English titles

2023/04/04

Register to attend.

The 2023 Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture in the Arts will feature the Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning composer John Luther Adams. Motivated by a deep concern for the state of the earth and the future of humanity, he brings the sense of wonder we experience outdoors into the concert hall with the hope, and belief, that music can do more than politics to change the world.

The Parker Quartet will perform Adams’s The Wind in High Places, and the composer will engage in conversation with Boston Globe classical music critic Jeremy Eichler.

“…throughout my life I’ve steered an uneasy course between the Scylla of solitude and the Charybdis of politics, between my desire to help change the world and my impulse to escape it. The vessel in which I navigate these turbulent waters is music.

I am two men. One man is the lifelong activist, who was marching in civil rights and antiwar demonstrations before he was able to vote, and who was a full-time environmental activist until he was in his mid-30s. The other man is the artist, who believes that music is his best gift to our troubled world. These two men don’t fully understand one another. Yet even as they struggle to balance their apparent contradictions, they share a sense of responsibility to and faith in the next generations.

My hope is that the music I compose may somehow be of use to someone who truly will change the world. Inspired by the young people who are rising up all around the world, I continue my work in the belief that music has a special power to plumb the depths within us, and to elevate those places where courage and compassion are born.”

The Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture Series was established through the generosity of Kim G. Davis AB ’76, MBA ’78, and Judith N. Davis, longtime friends and champions of Harvard Radcliffe Institute. This annual lecture series invites leading figures from across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences to share their expertise, ideas, and diverse perspectives with the Harvard community and the broader public.

Discussant
Jeremy Eichler RI ’17 is the chief classical music critic of the Boston Globe. An award-winning critic, essayist, and cultural historian, Eichler has been a public scholar grantee of the National Endowment for the Humanities and has received fellowships from Harvard Radcliffe Institute and MacDowell Colony. His forthcoming book on music, war, and cultural memory, titled Times Echo, will be published by Knopf in fall 2023.

Performance by
Parker Quartet

Daniel Chong, violin
Ken Hamao, violin
Jessica Bodner, viola
Kee-Hyun Kim, cello

Internationally recognized for their “fearless, yet probingly beautiful” (The Strad) performances, the Boston-based Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet is one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation, dedicated purely to the sound and depth of their music. The Quartet has appeared at the world’s leading venues since its founding in 2002 and its numerous honors include winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at France’s Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, and Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award. The members of the Parker Quartet serve as professors of the practice and Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music.

Free and open to the public.

We are planning "Music in a Burning World" as a hybrid event.

2023/04/02

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
The Crossing
Donald Nally Artistic Director

J.L. Adams Vespers of the Blessed Earth (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission)
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky’s vivid reflection on ancient pagan rituals, still astounds more than a century after its riotous Parisian premiere. John Luther Adams’s Vespers of the Blessed Earth references humanity’s impact on the Earth. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “The music I’m writing now is an expression of grief and faith in the possibility of human redemption.” Philadelphia-based choral group the Crossing joins Yannick and the Orchestra for this transformative performance.

2023/04/01

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
The Crossing
Donald Nally Artistic Director

J.L. Adams Vespers of the Blessed Earth (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission)
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky’s vivid reflection on ancient pagan rituals, still astounds more than a century after its riotous Parisian premiere. John Luther Adams’s Vespers of the Blessed Earth references humanity’s impact on the Earth. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “The music I’m writing now is an expression of grief and faith in the possibility of human redemption.” Philadelphia-based choral group the Crossing joins Yannick and the Orchestra for this transformative performance.

2023/03/31

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin continue to offer an extremely impressive variety of programming, with the final concert of their 2022–2023 Carnegie Hall season comprising Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and a New York premiere by Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams. The Rite of Spring retains the same visceral impact—tempered by undeniable whimsy—that has taken the piece from infamy to seminal status. Joining in Vespers of the Blessed Earth, by “America’s de facto chief environmental composer” (NPR), is The Crossing, “America’s most astonishing choir” (The New York Times).

2023/03/30

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
The Crossing
Donald Nally Artistic Director

J.L. Adams Vespers of the Blessed Earth (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission)
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky’s vivid reflection on ancient pagan rituals, still astounds more than a century after its riotous Parisian premiere. John Luther Adams’s Vespers of the Blessed Earth references humanity’s impact on the Earth. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “The music I’m writing now is an expression of grief and faith in the possibility of human redemption.” Philadelphia-based choral group the Crossing joins Yannick and the Orchestra for this transformative performance.

2023/03/29

Proximity is a gripping, powerful trio of new works that confronts head-on some of the greatest challenges affecting us as a society: yearning for connection in a world driven by technology; the devastating impact of gun violence on cities and neighborhoods; and the need to respect and protect our natural resources. As the story zooms in and out from the individual to the community to the cosmic, we find ourselves in a compelling snapshot of 21st-century life, with all of its complex intersections and commonalities. This new Lyric commission, bringing together a complement of some of the most important creative minds of our time, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and the MacArthur Genius Grant, promises to be by turns riveting, provocative, and inspiring.

Language: Sung in English with projected English titles

2023/03/26

Proximity is a gripping, powerful trio of new works that confronts head-on some of the greatest challenges affecting us as a society: yearning for connection in a world driven by technology; the devastating impact of gun violence on cities and neighborhoods; and the need to respect and protect our natural resources. As the story zooms in and out from the individual to the community to the cosmic, we find ourselves in a compelling snapshot of 21st-century life, with all of its complex intersections and commonalities. This new Lyric commission, bringing together a complement of some of the most important creative minds of our time, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and the MacArthur Genius Grant, promises to be by turns riveting, provocative, and inspiring.

Language: Sung in English with projected English titles

2023/03/24

Proximity is a gripping, powerful trio of new works that confronts head-on some of the greatest challenges affecting us as a society: yearning for connection in a world driven by technology; the devastating impact of gun violence on cities and neighborhoods; and the need to respect and protect our natural resources. As the story zooms in and out from the individual to the community to the cosmic, we find ourselves in a compelling snapshot of 21st-century life, with all of its complex intersections and commonalities. This new Lyric commission, bringing together a complement of some of the most important creative minds of our time, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and the MacArthur Genius Grant, promises to be by turns riveting, provocative, and inspiring.

Language: Sung in English with projected English titles

2023/03/17

Kris Defoort, Human voices only (Belgian premiere)

Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61

John Luther Adams, Become ocean (Belgian premiere)

Human voices only, written in 2014, is the first orchestral work by Belgian composer and avant-garde jazz pianist Kris Defoort. He found his inspiration for this piece in Morocco: “I was on a flat roof during Ramadan and everywhere I heard these chants, infinite melodies that consist of only a few notes but with immeasurable variations. Voices that never stop.” With many references to early-twentieth-century composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Satie and Stravinsky, Kris Defoort lets the instruments of the orchestra play through the various facets of the human voice, returning to a never-ending Arabic melody.

Four soft timpani beats open Beethoven’s only Violin Concerto. According to some, the recurring timpani motif in the first movement reflects the euphoric mood that prevailed during the French Revolution. Major upheavals were in store and anything seemed possible. The premiere of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was only a moderate success because the score was completed much too late and the soloist had to sight-read parts during the concert. Years after Beethoven’s death, however, the Violin Concerto was resurrected by Mendelssohn and began its triumphant march through European concert halls.

The Belgian National Orchestra goes on to dive deep below the water’s surface with the composition Become ocean by John Luther Adams. The New Yorker described this work as “the most beautiful apocalypse in the history of music”. Become ocean is part of a cycle that John Luther Adams composed, based on the four elements. He believes that humanity is able to transcend the isolation and cynicism of modern society by seeking contact with something greater than itself. The piece was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2014. The performance represents a world premiere, as the music is accompanied by a film by video artist Lillevan.

Joshua Weilerstein, conductor
Josef Špaček, violin
Lillevan, video

2023/02/25

The music of Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams exploring the connection between people and nature.

If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being.

- John Luther Adams

The EcoVoice Project is excited to share the music of John Luther Adams, 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winner and “reining musical ambassador for the natural world” (The New York Times). Along with opening remarks by the composer, the New Earth Ensemble will be joined by Beyond This Point to present a program featuring Adams’s choral work Night Peace, as well as chamber works for piano, harp, voice, and percussion. WFMT Music Director, Oliver Camacho will read poetry of John Haines, lifelong inspiration for Adams and librettist for his new opera Night, premiering at Lyric Opera this spring.

2023/02/05

Repertoire
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS Become Ocean
DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto

Artists
Kwamé Ryan, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cello

The sensitive and charismatic young Spaniard Pablo Ferrández brings out all the passion and earthy folk music embedded within Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, a crown jewel of the solo repertoire. Kwamé Ryan conducts with the broad perspective of a true world citizen, from his Trinidadian and Canadian roots to his extensive training and experience in the United Kingdom and Europe. He turns his keen gaze to Become Ocean, a once-in-a-generation masterpiece of swelling waves and rapturous immersion that earned John Luther Adams a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy® Award.

2023/02/04

Repertoire
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS Become Ocean
DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto

Artists
Kwamé Ryan, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cello

The sensitive and charismatic young Spaniard Pablo Ferrández brings out all the passion and earthy folk music embedded within Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, a crown jewel of the solo repertoire. Kwamé Ryan conducts with the broad perspective of a true world citizen, from his Trinidadian and Canadian roots to his extensive training and experience in the United Kingdom and Europe. He turns his keen gaze to Become Ocean, a once-in-a-generation masterpiece of swelling waves and rapturous immersion that earned John Luther Adams a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy® Award.

2023/02/03

Registration required

The Great Northern Festival

“Reigning musical ambassador of the natural world” (The New York Times) John Luther Adams joins The New Yorker’s music critic Alex Ross (The Rest is Noise) for a conversation on environmentalism, JLA’s illuminating memoir Silences So Deep, experiences in deep winter, and Ten Thousand Birds, to be performed by Alarm Will Sound at Minneapolis Institute of Art on the final day of the festival.

About John Luther Adams

For John Luther Adams, music is a lifelong search for home—an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and remember our place within the larger community of life on Earth.

Living for almost 40 years in northern Alaska, JLA discovered a unique musical world grounded in space, stillness, and elemental forces. In the 1970s and into the 80s, he worked full time as an environmental activist. But the time came when he felt compelled to dedicate himself entirely to music. He made this choice with the belief that, ultimately, music can do more than politics to change the world. Since that time, he has become one of the most widely admired composers in the world, receiving the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and many other honors.

In works such as Become Ocean, In the White Silence, and Canticles of the Holy Wind, Adams brings the sense of wonder that we feel outdoors into the concert hall. And in outdoor works such as Inuksuit and Sila: The Breath of the World, he employs music as a way to reclaim our connections with place, wherever we may be.

A deep concern for the state of the earth and the future of humanity drives Adams to continue composing. As he puts it: “If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being.”

Since leaving Alaska, JLA and his wife Cynthia have made their home in the deserts of Mexico, Chile, and the southwestern United States.

About Alex Ross

Alex Ross has been the music critic of The New Yorker since 1996. He is the author of the books The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, Listen to This, and Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music.

2023/02/02

Repertoire
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS Become Ocean
DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto

Artists
Kwamé Ryan, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cello

The sensitive and charismatic young Spaniard Pablo Ferrández brings out all the passion and earthy folk music embedded within Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, a crown jewel of the solo repertoire. Kwamé Ryan conducts with the broad perspective of a true world citizen, from his Trinidadian and Canadian roots to his extensive training and experience in the United Kingdom and Europe. He turns his keen gaze to Become Ocean, a once-in-a-generation masterpiece of swelling waves and rapturous immersion that earned John Luther Adams a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy® Award.

2022/11/10

Sometimes throwing together a meal of one’s favorite dishes is the most satisfying – nothing ties it together, each dish stands deliciously alone. This program puts together music that has been played often here at NEC bringing great reward to the musicians and enjoyment to the audience. Two French favorites – Baroque dance delights from the court of Louis the 14th (coached by Handel and Haydn’s world-renowned oboist Debra Nagy) is followed by a brass tour de force: Tomasi’s passionate and reverent Fanfares. John Luther Adams' work for massed flutes was recorded to great acclaim by NEC’s Callithumpian Consort and is coached here by NEC’s own John Heiss. Michael Tippet broke new formal and rhythmic ground with jewelry Mosaic, the first movement of his Concerto for Orchestra. New England itself claims America’s most important composer – Charles Ives. His Decoration Day is a musical collage drawn from childhood memories of Memorial Day – the civil war veterans on parade, the horse carts, the fire wagons and of course, the marches played with more passion than accuracy by the village band. This was the piece that caused Stravinsky to say “There is a great man living in this country – a composer...and his name is Ives”
-- Charles Peltz

CONDUCTORS
Charles Peltz
Jean Baptiste Lully/François-André Philidor | Musique pour les douze oboi
Henri Tomasi | Fanfares liturgiques
Annonciation
Evangile
Apocalypse (Scherzo)
Procession du Vendredi-saint

John Luther Adams | Strange Birds Passing
Michael Tippett | Mosaics (from Concerto for Orchestra)
Charles Ives (transcr. James Sinclair) | Decoration Day, from "Holidays" Symphony, and Charlie Rutlage