The Baltimore Bomb is a one-movement composition for orchestra by the American composer Caroline Shaw. The work was commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in celebration of the ensemble's centennial. Its world premiere was given at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on September 17, 2016, by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop. The piece is named after an iconic Baltimore pie known as the "Baltimore Bomb." [1] [2]
The Baltimore Bomb has been praised by music critics. Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun called the work "an attractive curtain-raiser" and wrote, "A suggestion of clanking cutlery from the percussion section — evoking eager dessert eaters, perhaps — provides an initial pulse for The Baltimore Bomb, which gets further fuel from lush chord progressions." [3] J. T. Hassell of the Washington Classical Review further remarked, "Appropriately, this commissioned work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer began with spoons clinking rhythmically on a plate. Out of this grew an effervescent swell of strings and winds, which Alsop steadily built into a sumptuous statement from the full orchestra. This brief climax subsided and diminished steadily and returned to the lone sound of spoons on plates to close the piece." [4]
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it began regular performances at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda.
Marin Alsop is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and to the American Philosophical Society in 2020.
Christopher Chapman Rouse III was an American composer. Though he wrote for various ensembles, Rouse is primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, a dozen concertos, and six symphonies. His work received numerous accolades, including the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He also served as the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.
Michael Nathaniel Hersch is an American composer and pianist. He currently serves as faculty at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed his own studies in music composition. The New York Times has commented that he writes "extraordinarily communicative music" and that "Mr. Hersch's music speaks for itself eloquently".
Joel Puckett is an American composer. He comes from a musical family; his father was a classical tubist and in his retirement still plays dixie-land jazz gigs around Atlanta. Joel completed his academic work at the University of Michigan, earning both a Masters of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts. His teachers include Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Will Averitt, and Thomas Albert.
Caroline Adelaide Shaw is an American composer of contemporary classical music, violinist, and singer. She is best known for the a cappella piece Partita for 8 Voices, for which she won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Shaw received the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Narrow Sea.
Symphony No. 3 is an orchestral composition in two movements by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was jointly commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. It was completed February 3, 2011 and premiered May 5, 2011 by the Saint Louis Symphony under David Robertson at Powell Hall in St. Louis, Missouri. The piece is dedicated to Rouse's high school music teacher, John Merrill.
Rapture is an orchestral composition in one movement by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was completed January 9, 2000. It is dedicated to then Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra music director Mariss Jansons and premiered in May 2000.
Der gerettete Alberich is a concerto for percussion and orchestra by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was jointly commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. It was completed June 7, 1997, and premiered January 15, 1998 in Cleveland, Ohio with the Cleveland Orchestra under conductor Christoph von Dohnányi. The piece is dedicated to percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who performed the solo during the world premiere. Rouse composed the work as an informal musical sequel to Richard Wagner's four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen.
The Percussion Concerto is a one-movement concerto for solo percussion and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was jointly commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, with contributions from the Philadelphia Music Project and the Lacy Foundation of LDI, Ltd. The piece was completed in 2005 and is dedicated to the percussionist Colin Currie, for whom the concerto was written. The piece won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. That same year, Higdon won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto (2008).
Concert de Gaudí is a concerto for classical guitar and orchestra by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was jointly commissioned by Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the guitarist Sharon Isbin, with additional contributions from Richard and Jody Nordlof, to whom the piece is dedicated. It was completed August 1, 1999 and premiered in Hamburg, January 2, 2000, with Isbin and the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchester led by conductor Christoph Eschenbach. The piece was later awarded the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
Concerto 4-3 is a concerto for two violins, double bass, and orchestra in three movements by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned for the string trio Time for Three by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. It was first performed in Philadelphia on January 10, 2008, by Time for Three and the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.
The Concerto Mediterraneo is a concerto for classical guitar and orchestra by the American composer Steven Stucky. The work was completed in April 1998 and was written to commemorate the life of the Greek guitarist Sophocles Papas. It was first performed on September 17, 1998, at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore by the guitarist Manuel Barrueco and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Günther Herbig.
blue cathedral is an orchestral composition by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music in 1999 to commemorate the conservatory's 75th anniversary. It was first performed in 2000 by the Curtis Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra. The piece is dedicated to the memory of Higdon's brother and is one of the composer's most performed works.
Abstractions is an orchestral suite by the British-American composer Anna Clyne. The work was commissioned in honor of the Baltimore philanthropists Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, for whom Clyne is composer-in-residence. Its world premiere was given by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Marin Alsop in Strathmore, Maryland, on May 7, 2016. The suite's five movements were each inspired by eponymous pieces of artwork from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Symphony Number One (SNO) is a chamber orchestra primarily devoted to new music based in Baltimore, Maryland. SNO performs each year in musical venues in Mount Vernon, Baltimore, at Morgan State University, and across the city. Jordan Randall Smith is Symphony Number One's founder and current music director.
Jordan Randall Smith is an American conductor, arts entrepreneur, and percussionist. He is the music director of Symphony Number One and conductor of the Hopkins Concert Orchestra at Johns Hopkins University. He was also a Visiting assistant professor of Music and Director of Orchestra at Susquehanna University.
Berceuse Infinie is an orchestral composition by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and was completed on July 1, 2016. It was first performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Marin Alsop at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on November 30, 2017. The piece is dedicated to Marin Alsop.
The Symphony No. 6 is a symphony for orchestra by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and was completed in the composer's Baltimore home on June 6, 2019. It was first performed in Cincinnati Music Hall by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Louis Langrée on October 18, 2019. Written as a personal epitaph, the symphony was Rouse's last completed work before his death in September 2019.