The latest volume of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project finds Gil Rose directing the orchestra for a selection of interesting and contrasting works by Steven Mackey (b 1956). It is entitled Time Release (BMOP 1068) after the 2005 work that is a centerpiece of the program.
Recent News Coverage
It's sometimes easy to forget that opera has a playful side, given its preponderance for serious and downright dark subject matter. Indulging that lighter side comes in handy for introducing young people to it in a manner that is both accessible and, dare I say, "fun" (in other words, maybe not Wagner or Britten). Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl story, is a worthy candidate for such an endeavor.
The apartment building in which the composer Lei Liang grew up, in Beijing in the 1970s, was a musicological beehive. Its residents worked at the Music Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts, which had an archive of rare historical recordings that had been saved, often at great personal cost, from destruction in the Cultural Revolution.
It’s taken Tobias Picker’s second opera more than twenty years to make it to CD, but here it is at last in all its charm and considerable glory. Over the years, Fantastic Mr. Fox has expanded and contracted according to resources available; the original LA Opera staging with Gerald Finley (sporting the title character's whiskers) was sizable, but a seven-instrument reduction has been a hit at London's Opera Holland Park.
The title of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s Saturday concert at Jordan Hall, “Klezmer Madness,” accurately represented half of its program. That portion consisted of two recent concertos for clarinet and orchestra that were audibly steeped in klezmer, the folk music of Eastern European Jews. Both pieces also featured the outstanding klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer, an ideal guide to the contemporary state of klezmer, who brought their solo parts thrillingly to life in performance.
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Mr. Rose, Ms. Budd and the players made a passionate, high-energy case for [Child Alice]. They also used it to put a double bar on their 20th-anniversary season, and to underscore their stature as one of this country's finest new-music ensembles."
- Allan Kozinn, The Wall Street Journal
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), affiliate orchestra for new music at New England Conservatory, will join NEC in sponsoring a concerto competition for works written after 1964.
Provisions: The competition will be held in late January in Jordan Hall. The competition will consist of one round.
Eligibility: The competition is open to any full-time NEC student, instrumental or vocal, who will be returning in the 2014/2015 academic year.
When: Friday, May 16 @ 8:00 p.m. (free pre-concert talk @ 7:00 p.m.)
Where: Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street), Boston, T: Symphony/Mass Ave.
Tickets: General $20 - $50/Students $10. To reserve seats now, contact BMOP at bmop.org or 781.324.0396. Starting April 18, tickets are also available through the Jordan Hall Box Office at 617.585.1260, in person, or at tix.com.
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), affiliate orchestra for new music at New England Conservatory, will join NEC in sponsoring the 2014 Concerto Competition for works written after 1963.
Provisions: The competition will be held on January 21, 2014, from 11am to 1pm in room 124 of the Jordan Hall building. The competition will consist of one round.
Eligibility: The competition is open to any full-time NEC student, instrumental or vocal, who is enrolled for the 2013/2014 academic year.
For immediate release: March 29, 2013
• Degree Bestowed at Boston Modern Orchestra Project Concert, April 14
• Performances by [nec] shivaree, BMOP
• Knussen Will Give Lecture, Work with NEC composition Students in Two Masterclasses