Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) Ends Season with Apollo Fire Concert 5.18

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) Brings Apollo’s Fire – A Season-Ending Concert Inspired by Greek Mythology

BMOP in Concert: Apollo’s Fire

When: Friday, May 18 @ 8:00pm (free
pre-concert talk @ 7:00pm)

Where: Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough
Street), Boston, T: Symphony

Tickets: $28 - $52. Students/Seniors
$10.  To purchase tickets, contact BMOP at 781.324.0396 or visit www.BMOP.org

Boston, MA (For Release
04/25/12) --- The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the
nation’s premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing,
and recording new orchestral music, presents its final concert of the 2011-12
season – Apollo’s Fire.  Like many artists and composers of the
Western world, BMOP finds contemporary significance in Greek mythology,
especially Apollo.  On the program are four works by composers who looked
back to ancient Greece as inspiration: Five Greek Dances by Nikos
Skalkottas; The Minotaur by Elliott Carter; Apollon Musagete by
Igor Stravinsky; and Apollo & Daphne Variations by Lewis Spratlan.

“In
Greek mythology, Apollo is associated to light and truth, as well as music and
poetry.  It’s not surprising that the ilk of classical music finds
relevance in Apollo and classical mythological themes,” explains Gil Rose,
Artistic Director/Conductor of BMOP. Fittingly, philosophers have used the term
“Apollonian” to describe art that exhibits order, balance, clarity and
precision.

A leading
figure in Greek music, Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949) was one of the first
Greek composers to adopt atonality and the 12-tone method subsequently creating
an entirely new sound world.  Of particular interest is the presence of
Greek folk material in his works – most notably, his famous collection of Greek
Dances for orchestra.  Completed in 1936, Skalkottas subsequently
rearranged some of the numbers including Five Greek Dances (1956) for
string orchestra.  It’s a sophisticated re-creation of indigenous Greek
folk-ensemble sounds (both real and custom-made) each with its own distinct
rhythm, harmony and flavor. 

Elliott
Carter (b. 1908), one of the prime innovators of 20th century
music, composed The Minotaur (1947) during a time when his style was
influenced by Igor Stravinsky (also featured on BMOP’s program) and Medieval
music. Based on the Greek myth of Theseus in the Labyrinth, and conceived as a
ballet in collaboration with George Balanchine, it premiered in 1947 in New
York by the Ballet Society.    Described by Aaron Copland
as, “one of America’s most distinguished creative artists in any field,” Carter
is consistently innovative and is known for his explorations of tempo
relationships and texture that characterize his music. 

Apollon
Musagete (1927-28) trans. Apollo, The Leader of the Muses (later
shortened to Apollo),
has grown to become one of the most popular neo-classical ballets in
history.     Conceived by Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971) as an austere score of great purity and unity, he settled on a
theme of Apollo, and his interaction with the muses (streamlined to three muses
out of the original nine): Calliope,
the personification of poetry and rhythm; Polyhymnia, representing mime; and
Terpsichore, dance.  It begins with the birth of Apollo, then the
presentation of the gifts from the muses, and ends with their ascent into the
arena of the Gods on Mount Olympus.  George Balanchine, who choreographed
the first European staging in 1928, understood the essence of Stravinsky’s
achievement.  “In its discipline and restraint, in its sustained oneness
of tone and feeling the score was revelation.  It [Apollon] seemed to tell
me that I could dare not to use everything that I, too, could eliminate.”

Completing
the program is the love story of Apollo and the nymph, Daphne.  Apollo
& Daphne Variations (1987) by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis
Spratlan (b. 1940) tells the gripping tale of Apollo proclaiming his love
and eminence for Daphne who turned into a bay laurel tree when Apollo was on
the verge of catching her.  Winner at the New England Composers Orchestra
Competition for readings of new works, Apollo & Daphne Variations is
what Spratlan describes as, “wonderfully danceable and dramatically gripping.”
Spratlan currently resides in both the Berkshires and Amherst, MA. 

About
BMOP:   
                                                                                                                                                                   

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is widely recognized as the
leading orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing new
music, and its signature record label, BMOP/sound, is the nation’s foremost
label launched by an orchestra and solely devoted to new music recordings.
Founded in 1996 by Artistic Director Gil Rose, BMOP affirms its mission to illuminate
the connections that exist naturally between contemporary music and
contemporary society by reuniting composers and audiences in a shared concert
experience.

In its first twelve seasons, BMOP established a track record that includes
more than 80 performances, over 70 world premieres (including 30 commissioned
works), two Opera Unlimited festivals with Opera Boston, the inaugural Ditson
Festival of Contemporary Music with the ICA/Boston, and 32 commercial
recordings, including 12 CDs from BMOP/sound.

In March 2008, BMOP launched
its signature record label, BMOP/sound, with the release of John Harbison’s
ballet Ulysses.
Its composer-centric releases focus on orchestral works that are otherwise
unavailable in recorded form. The response to the label was immediate and
celebratory; its five inaugural releases appeared on the “Best of 2008” lists
of The New York Times,
The Boston Globe,
National Public Radio, Downbeat,
and American Record
Guide, among others.

BMOP/sound is the recipient
of five Grammy Award nominations: in 2009 for Charles Fussell: Wilde (Best Classical
Vocal Performance); in 2010 for Derek
Bermel: Voices (Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with
Orchestra); and three nominations in 2011 for its recording of Steven Mackey: Dreamhouse
(Best Engineered Classical Album, Best Classical Album, and Best Orchestral
Performance). The New
York Times has proclaimed, “BMOP/sound is an example of everything
done right.” Additional BMOP recordings are available from Albany, Arsis,
Cantaloupe, Centaur, Chandos, ECM, Innova, Naxos, New World, and Oxingale.

In Boston, BMOP performs at
Boston’s Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall, and the orchestra has also performed in
New York at Miller Theater, the Winter Garden, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie
Hall, and The Lyceum in Brooklyn. A perennial winner of the ASCAP Award for
Adventurous Programming of Orchestral Music and 2006 winner of the John S.
Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music, BMOP has appeared
at the Bank of America Celebrity Series (Boston, MA), Tanglewood, the Boston
Cyberarts Festival, the Festival of New American Music (Sacramento, CA), and
Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh, PA). In April 2008, BMOP headlined the 10th
Annual MATA Festival in New York.

BMOP’s greatest strength is the
artistic distinction of its musicians and performances. Each season, Gil Rose,
recipient of Columbia University’s prestigious Ditson Conductor’s Award as well
as an ASCAP Concert Music award for his extraordinary contribution to new
music, gathers together an outstanding orchestra of dynamic and talented young
performers, and presents some of the world’s top vocal and instrumental
soloists. The Boston
Globe claims, “Gil Rose is some kind of genius; his concerts are
wildly entertaining, intellectually rigorous, and meaningful.” Of BMOP
performances, The New
York Times says: “Mr. Rose and his team filled the music with rich,
decisive ensemble colors and magnificent solos. These musicians were
rapturous—superb instrumentalists at work and play.” http://www.bmop.org

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Editor’s
Note:  For photo permissions, interviews or ticket requests, contact April
Thibeault / AMT PR / 212.861.0990 / april@amtpublicrelations.com.