Opening (2021)
For Orchestra
(3333/5331/timp/2perc/hp/strings)
Commissioned by The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Ken-David Masur, Music Director, for the opening of the Bradley Symphony Center
For premiere performances October 1-3, 2021 on the 2021-22 season-opening at the Bradley Symphony Center
with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducted Ken-David Masur
Duration: 8 minutes
Listen/Watch
Full Recording:
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra | Ken-David Masur, conductor (PBS Broadcast)
Posted with permission of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (available for online streaming until October 1, 2026).
Program Note
Opening juxtaposes music of stillness and activity in a series of broadening gestures that unfurl over the course of its eight-minute trajectory. It asks us to listen to ourselves in the space that we inhabit together. Solo players are placed around the hall surrounding the audience, participating in intimate dialogues that reach across to the other soloists and players on the stage. The musicians also resound forcefully, enveloping the hall from all sides in resonance. At times, players in the strings are asked to play their parts asynchronously, as if they are soloists within a larger collective, creating a communal sense of singing. Opening begins with reverence and closes in celebration.
Opening is dedicated to The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky, and with admiration and gratitude to Ken-David Masur and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
