Always adventurous New Century Chamber Orchestra proves its moxie with two world premieres and a “classics-free” diversity-parade program on its Nov. 4–7 concerts.
In addition to the premieres, guest leader and cellist Jeff Zeigler will solo in William Grant Still’s Phantom Chapel and lead percussionist/ composer Andy Akiho’s Oscillate, premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 2013.
Paola Prestini’s scheduled premiere of From the Bones to the Fossils has been postponed, and her “reimagining” of Canadian Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq’s In Me is programmed instead.
The major work on the concerts is the premiere of Mark Adamo’s cello concerto, titled Last Year. It is an NCCO co-commission with American Composers Orchestra, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
Zeigler, returning to San Francisco where he played with the Kronos Quartet for eight years, has long participated in the development of the concerto, saying that he and Adamo have been discussing the project for several years. “I am absolutely thrilled to share that he has created a gorgeous and deeply poignant work.”
The concerto explores how Vivaldi might have written this work in the modern era under the threat of global warming. “When I first thought of a piece looking at The Four Seasons through the lens of climate change,” Adamo says, “I thought it could be, potentially, a rich and trenchant idea for a cello concerto. What I didn’t guess was that it would be, emotionally, and technically, one of the hardest things I’d ever tried to write.”
What made it hard to write?
If — as I think a lot of us do: I know I do — you spend most of your day denying, or simply not thinking about the possibility of impending catastrophe (what’s another plastic bottle?), what happens when you as a composer open yourself to experience that fear and that grief, and try to turn that into an aural experience?
And — even if you come up with something expressive — then what? Do you just leave your audience there, in the abyss?
How do you end a piece like this in a way that’s neither nihilistic nor dishonest?
Adamo’s operatic bonafides — with Little Women, Lysistrata, Becoming Santa Claus — are well known here, where the San Francisco Opera commissioned and premiered his 2013 The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. His most recent work was Santa Fe Opera’s premiere this summer of a newly commissioned opera, The Lord of Cries, with Adamo’s libretto, and music by his husband, John Corigliano.
NCCO’s next concerts include “Hope Leads Appalachian Spring“ with Daniel Hope and soprano Leah Hawkins, Jan. 20–23, 2022; and “Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante,” with Hope and violist Paul Neubauer, May 12-14.
The NCCO concerts are available both in person and by stream. Audiences are required to present proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 with valid I.D. upon arrival and to wear face mask at all times while inside the performance venue. Audio stream will be available for standalone advance purchase, and the recording will be made available to buyers approximately one week after the final performance with unlimited listening for 30 days. Access to the audio stream will also be offered to all ticket holders as part of their ticket purchase.
