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New England Philharmonic to premiere 'Louisa's War' by
MIT faculty members Peter Child and Michael Ouellette
March 18, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On April 25, TV personality Joyce Kulhawik will narrate and the
New England Philharmonic will perform Peter Child's
new orchestral work, Louisa's War. The concert at Boston
University's Tsai Performance Center will also feature violinist
Danielle Maddon performing Henri Dutilleux's "Tree
of Dreams" Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Music Director Richard
Pittman will conduct the New England Philharmonic, which commissioned
Louisa's War; they will be joined by the Simmons College Chorale
and women members of Chorus Pro Musica.
Written for narrator, chorus, and orchestra, Louisa's
War focuses on
the Civil War experience of Louisa May Alcott as a military nurse
and conveys her elation, frustration, exhaustion and grief. The
libretto was compiled by Michael Ouellette, Mr. Child's
colleague at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from Alcott's
journals. Louisa's
War is the fourth of Peter Child's works based on 19th-century
American literature, and the first of these, The
Sifting: Three Songs of Longfellow (2006), was one of his commissions as composer-in-residence
for the New England Philharmonic, which has commissioned and performed
a new orchestral work annually since 1985.
Also featured on April 25 will be the violin concerto by Henri Dutilleux,
entitled "L'Arbre des Songes" ("Tree of Dreams"). Modeled (in
the words of program notes from the Royal Concertgebouw's recording) "on
a growing tree, starting at the roots and ending in leafy branches," this
piece will be performed by the locally prominent violinist Danielle
Maddon. Ms.
Maddon is concertmaster of the New England Philharmonic, in addition
to being a regular member of the Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music,
and other groups.
Rounding out this program will be Elliott Carter's Remembrance and Antonin
Dvorák's Symphony No. 8 in G-Major. At the close of this
season's celebration of Carter's hundredth year, the New England
Philharmonic also honors the fact that, in France, Henri Dutilleux
is the "elder statesman" of musical composition, and continues to compose
music actively at the age of 92.
The performance takes place on April 25 at 8:00 p.m., in Boston University's
Tsai Performance Center (685 Commonwealth Avenue). Please visit
the website at www.nephilharmonic.org or
telephone 617-353-8725 for tickets, which are $30 for general admission,
$25 for seniors, and $5 for students. New England Philharmonic
is offering "2 for the price of 1" tickets to members of the
MIT community.
The New England Philharmonic, whose mission is to perform 20th- and
21st-century orchestral works alongside the "classic" repertory, is
in its thirty-second season, and has been under the direction of
Richard Pittman (of Boston Musica Viva fame) since 1997. The orchestra
recently performed the beautiful and heretofore neglected Cello
Concerto of Gunther Schuller (written when he was 19), and the
Pulitzer-Prizewinning Concerto No. 2 for Orchestra of Steven Stucky,
in its first-ever Boston performance. The same February 21 concert
included a performance of the Philharmonic's annual Call For Scores
winner, Pasiphäe by Jorge Grossman.
Please call Timothy D. Alexander at 508-626-9379 or send your email
query to orfeoalex@verizon.net for
further information.
1906 Massachusetts Ave. | Cambridge,
MA 02140 | 617/868-1222 |www.nephilharmonic.org
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