On April 27 and 28, the American Symphony Orchestra and Music Director and Conductor Leon Botstein present the world premiere performances of Howard Shore's Mythic Gardens at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Commissioned by the Orchestra, thanks to a generous gift from Stuart and Linda Nelson, Shore composed the concerto for cellist Sophie Shao, who will premiere the work.
Award-winning composer (including the score to The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Shore first worked with Shao when she performed solo cello pieces on his score for the Oscar nominated 2008 documentary The Betrayal (Nerakhoon). Shore says that "the concerto was conceived for the masterful playing of Sophie Shao and for the depth and beauty of the 1860 Honore Derazey cello in her hands. The work was inspired by the architecture of three classic Italian Gardens: Cimbrone, Medici and Visconti Borremeo Litta." Mythic Gardens is a companion piece to Shore's 2010 piano concerto Ruin and Memory which he composed for Lang Lang.
"I am so excited to premiere this complex piece, full of such beautiful and dramatic moments," says Shao. "Just to have the opportunity to perform a Howard Shore work in front of a live audience is a thrill."
The work will be presented as part of a program that also includes works by Lutosławski, Brubeck and Bartók.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
American Symphony Orchestra
Friday & Saturday, April 27 & 28, 2012
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Arts at Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
7:00 p.m. Preconcert Talk with Peter Laki
8:00 p.m. Concert
Tickets: $25, 35, 40
WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI
Concerto for Orchestra
CHRISTOPHER BRUBECK
Prague Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra
Tamas Markovics, bass trombone
HOWARD SHORE
Mythic Gardens, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Sophie Shao, cello
BELA BARTOK
Concerto for Orchestra
Ticket Information
Tickets can be purchased through fishercenter.bard.edu, in person at the Fisher Center Office, or by calling (845) 758-7900.