The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a piano concerto written by the American composer Matthew Aucoin. The work was commissioned by the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Its world premiere was performed by the pianist Conor Hanick and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Carlos Izcaray at the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center on October 7, 2016. [1]
The concerto has a duration of approximately 25 minutes in performance and is cast in three numbered movements. [1]
The work is scored for solo piano and an orchestra consisting of two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), two oboes (2nd doubling English horn), two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, three percussionists, and strings. [1]
The piano concerto has been praised by music critics. Reviewing a performance by Hanick and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project conducted by Gil Rose, Zoë Madonna of The Boston Globe wrote, "It began with ominous drumrolls, evoking a procession of the condemned. The solo piano, played with a deft touch and cool sparkle by Conor Hanick, made a mad dash for freedom, spurred on by the orchestra. Octave doublings gave the sound a primeval urgency. The second movement rested on a relaxed pulsing rhythm in the piano; if you breathed along, you'd calm down, until whistling winds and thudding drums signaled a slide from contentment to resurging anxiety, [[glockenspiel] joining the piano in insistent alarm. The perpetual motion of the first movement returned in the brief finale, the soloist fighting a tidal surge in counter motion with the orchestra." [2]
Ruth Dorothy Louisa Gipps was an English composer, oboist, pianist, conductor, and educator. She was one of the most prolific composers in Britain at the time of her death, having written five symphonies, seven concerti, and numerous chamber and choral works. She founded both the London Repertoire Orchestra and the Chanticleer Orchestra and served as conductor and music director for the City of Birmingham Choir. Later in her life she served as chairwoman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain.
James Dillon is a Scottish composer who is often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.
Nigel Keay is a New Zealand composer. He has been a freelance musician since 1983 working as a composer, violist, and violin teacher. Nigel Keay has held the following composer residencies: Mozart Fellowship, University of Otago 1986 and 1987, Nelson School of Music 1988 and 89, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra 1995.
Lior Navok is an Israeli classical composer, conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv. His music has been performed internationally by orchestras and ensembles including the Oper Frankfurt, Nuernberg Opera, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra. Amongst the awards he has received are those from the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He has also received awards from the Fromm Music Foundation, Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award, and Israel Prime Minister Award. In 2004, he was one of seven composers awarded commissions for new musical works by the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation.
The Violin Concerto is a concerto for violin and orchestra in two movements by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned for violinist Cho-Liang Lin by the Aspen Music Festival and School and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It was completed August 18, 1991 and is dedicated to Cho-Liang Lin.
Matthew Aucoin is an American composer, conductor, pianist, and writer best known for his operas. Aucoin has received commissions from the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the American Repertory Theater, the Peabody Essex Museum, Harvard University, and NPR's This American Life. He was appointed as Los Angeles Opera's first-ever Artist-in-Residence in 2016. He is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow.
The Violin Concerto is a concerto for violin and orchestra by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. It was premiered December 7, 2012, with Meyers and the Pittsburgh Symphony performing under conductor Leonard Slatkin.
The Cello Concerto No. 3, Legend of the Phoenix, is a composition for cello solo and orchestra by the American composer Augusta Read Thomas. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with contributions from Bill and Solange Brown. It was first performed in Boston on March 14, 2013, by the cellist Lynn Harrell and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Christoph Eschenbach. Thomas subsequently adapted the piece into a viola concerto in 2013.
The Concerto for Horn and Orchestra is a horn concerto by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the horn player James Sommerville. It was first performed on November 15, 2007 in Boston by Sommerville and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor James Levine.
A Symphony of Three Orchestras is an orchestra composition by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It was composed from June through December 1976 and was first performed in New York City on February 17, 1977 by the New York Philharmonic under the conductor Pierre Boulez. The composition is dedicated to Boulez and the New York Philharmonic.
The Concerto for Piano is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the pianist Jacob Lateiner with support from the Ford Foundation. It was composed between 1964 and 1965 and was first performed at Symphony Hall, Boston on January 6, 1967, by Lateiner and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Erich Leinsdorf. The piece was dedicated to the composer Igor Stravinsky for his 85th birthday.
Interventions is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was composed at the behest of the pianist Daniel Barenboim and the conductor James Levine to celebrate Carter's 100th birthday. The piece was completed on April 16, 2007 and was first performed in Symphony Hall, Boston on December 4, 2008 by Daniel Barenboim and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine.
The Symphony No. 6 is a composition for mezzo-soprano solo and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor James Levine. It was composed in 2011 and was given its world premiere in Boston on January 12, 2012 by the mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Zinman. The piece is dedicated "in friendship and gratitude" to James Levine, who would have conducted the premiere had he not retired from his post as the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra due to health concerns.
The Piano Concerto No. 1 is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Peter Lieberson. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for its centennial. Lieberson started composing the piece in 1980 and completed it on March 2, 1983. It was written for the pianist Peter Serkin, who first performed the concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa on April 21, 1983. The piece is dedicated to Peter Serkin and Seiji Ozawa. It was a finalist for the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Red Garuda for Piano and Orchestra is the second piano concerto by the American composer Peter Lieberson. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was composed between 1998 and 1999. Like Lieberson's first Piano Concerto, it was written for the pianist Peter Serkin, who first performed the work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa on October 14, 1999. The piece is dedicated to Peter Serkin and Seiji Ozawa.
Geoffrey Gordon is an American composer of classical music.
The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The work was written on a commission from Carnegie Hall, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the League of American Orchestras. It was the first composition ever commissioned by either Carnegie Hall or the League of American Orchestras. The world premiere was performed by the pianist Marc-André Hamelin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Günther Herbig at the Meadow Brook Music Festival in Rochester Hills, Michigan, on June 26, 1986. The piece is dedicated to Günther Herbig.
The Concerto for Piano is the first piano concerto by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Virtuosi with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Its world premiere was performed by the pianist Jacquelyn M. Helin and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic conducted by Imre Palló on January 31, 1986. The music contains numerous allusions to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, in whose memory it is dedicated.
The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a piano concerto by the British composer Thomas Adès. The work was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the pianist Kirill Gerstein and was completd in 2018. It was first performed by Gerstein and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer at Symphony Hall, Boston, on 7 March 2019. The piece is Adès's second piano concerto following In Seven Days in 2008.
The Trombone Concerto is a composition for trombone and orchestra written by the Scottish composer James MacMillan. The work was commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for their principal trombonist Jörgen van Rijen and co-commissioned by a consortium of orchestras comprising the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonisches Orchester des Staatstheaters Cottbus. It was first performed by Jörgen van Rijen and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of Iván Fischer at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on 20 April 2017. The piece is dedicated to Jörgen van Rijen and in memory of Sara Maria MacMillan, the composer's granddaughter, who died shortly before its composition.