Over the last several seasons, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has featured concerts devoted to music by members of that greatest generation of late-20th-century American composers. Three years ago, they presented David Del Tredici’s Child Alice; two years past, it was a Philip Glass evening; last winter brought an engaging Joan Tower survey. On Saturday night at Jordan Hall, the ensemble and conductor Gil Rose turned their focus to the music of John Corigliano.
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Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s innovative semi-staged concert production of the complex, rich and fanciful two-act opera, Haroun and the Sea of Stories deserved more than the single Boston premiere performance Saturday at Jordan Hall. The multiple levels and nested plots of the story have so much depth that listeners need multiple iterations fully to appreciate the work. Based on the children’s novel by Salman Rushdie, with 12-tone music by the contemporary American composer Charles Wuorinen and intricate libretto by James Fenton, a renowned British poet and friend of Rushdie, this satirical 2004 work was created in the post 9-11 era, yet it is even more than relevant to our times. Opera News entitled a conversation about the New York City Opera’s opening night as a “Fearsome Fairyland;” their writer Leighton Kerner had interviewed Wuorinen and Rushdie together, and that seems apt. Gil Rose made use of all of the score’s electricity, eerie sounds, fright, joy and fancy to go along with a production replete with bright costumes, mechanical birds, water genies and beautifully bizarre beasts.
Those of you who are faithful Schmopera readers will likely recall that, when I reviewed Brokeback Mountain at the conclusion of last year’s New York City Opera season, I pointed at the paradox of Wuorinen’s highly dissonant score used to depict a romance, and the ways that paradox works in that opera’s favor. At the time, I figured it was a logical choice, considering how Annie Proulx’s prose worked to set up such a paradox.
Once again, my list includes a release from the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s ongoing and indispensable series of recordings. I’ve long enjoyed Peter Child’s excellent music and have reviewed a past album of his chamber music. This release of his orchestral works is anchored by a particularly strong piece, Shanti, which gives the album its title.
With their now customary elan and enterprise, Gil Rose and Boston Modern Orchestra Project enlightened, stretched, and amused the audience Friday evening with its concert in Jordan Hall. “Trouble” reflected at least two nuances of the programming: an engaging work of that very name by Vijay Iyer (b.1971), played fearlessly and flawlessly by guest violinist Jennifer Koh, and a 1966 example by Lucas Foss’s Cello Concert (1966), played equally stunningly by Opera Boston’s principal cellist David Russell.
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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
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