New Orchestra of Washington opens 2015-16 Season with Fusion

The New Orchestra of Washington opens its fourth season October 2 and 3 with Fusion, a concert featuring five contemporary compositions. Composer Joel Phillip Friedman describes his work Elastic Band as an edgy, playful chamber work that fuses jazz, rock, funk, and classical idioms. NOW commissioned Friedman to adapt his piece, Elastic Band, for performance by chamber ensemble. Originally commissioned by the Parsons Dance Company, with funding from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, John Mackey’s Rush Hour premiered in 1999. Mackey calls the work pop music-inspired. The program also includes a work by Hernandez-Valdez, Imagine: Reimagined based on the song by John Lennon. In describing Soul Garden by David Bermel, the New York Times says “this essay for solo viola and a string quintet draws freely from several musical worlds. The music’s surfaces are painted in the coloration of blues and gospel. The work’s underpinnings, though, use rhythmic and harmonic techniques more germane to contemporary concert music, and the tensions between those languages give the music its poignancy.” The X Concerto by Scott McAllister is a work in three movements heavily influenced by the grunge music of Nirvana and Alice in Chains. Showcasing the entire range of the clarinet, with its explosive driving sections and contrasting psychedelic passages, this concerto represents the energy and emotions of the X generation.

Tickets for NOW Season Four may be purchased by calling 240-235-5088 or online at neworchestraofwashington.org Individual adult tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, youth tickets, from ages 13 to 18, are $15, and children under 12 are free.

Fusion
Elastic Band by Joel Friedman (World premiere of reduced orchestra version)
Rush Hour by John Mackey
Imagine: Reimagined by Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez
Soul Garden by Derek Bermel
X Concerto by Scott McAllister

Friday, October 2, 7:30 pm
Georgetown University, McNeir Auditorium
37th and O St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20057

Saturday, October 3, 8 pm
AMP Theater powered by Strathmore
11810 Grand Park Avenue
North Bethesda, MD 20852