Nov 28, 2020 90 minutes with no intermission.
Original broadcast date: November 28, 2020
Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist based in New York. Sought after by major orchestras across North America, her work has been described as “mesmerizing and affecting” (Feast of Music). We open the concert with her 7-minute piece What Keeps Me Awake, a probing and wandering soundscape that is truly enthralling.
Premiered and recorded by Dame Evelyn Glennie, Canadian composer Michael Oesterle’s Kaluza Klein features CBC Music's "30 Under 30" classical percussionist Bryn Lutek on vibraphone.
The concert also includes two pieces by Barbara Pentland, a Canadian composer who blazed trails in avant-garde composition in the 1950’s, despite facing resistance in her career choice and path from both her family and male colleagues.
Adding texture to the program, we feature two Classical works by Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, written in homage to Mozart, will feature young cellist Olivia Yelim Cho. Ms. Cho is also featured on the CBC Music "30 Under 30" classical list for 2020.
The concert closes on a climactic note with Prokofiev’s “Classical” symphony. Prokofiev himself called it “happy and uncomplicated music” and it has become one of his most popular and beloved works.