From the New England sensibilities of John Adams and Emily Dickinson to the southern gothic of Edgar Allen Poe, this opening orchestral concert reaches across the American continent.
This nationwide sweep is echoed in the broad brushstrokes of the orchestration here, taking in string quartet, choir and full orchestra in a single concert.
The evening opens with Adams’ Short Ride In A Fast Machine, an exuberant fanfare, brilliantly scored for full orchestra.
It is followed by the UK premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s The Ecstasies Above, an imaginative re-working of Poe’s lyric poem Israfel, unusually scored for two choirs and a string quartet by the Grammy-nominated composer.
John Adams’ Harmonium is the focus of the second half, a choral epic born out of an instinctive urge to “push the minimalism envelope”.
In the sensual rapture of Emily Dickinson’s Wild Nights! Wild Nights! and John Donne’s Negative Love, Adams has found the perfect marriage for the work.
Features the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet, and Brighton Festival Chorus.
James Morgan conducts.
- Starts 8pm. Tickets £30, £25, £20, £15, £10.
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