Featuring Krista River, mezzo-soprano
Join us early at 7:30pm for a special pre-concert performance by students from Project STEP, featuring the second movement of Dvorak’s American String Quartet!
Musical Program
Julius Eastman | Joy Boy
Ottorino Respighi | "Il Tramonto"
Witold Lutosławski | Musique Funèbre
Vicente Lusitano | “Aspice Domine,” arr. Andrus Madsen
Ralph Vaughan Williams | Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
This is a program that begins at the end, and then keeps going. Sunset pulls us into a world of love and loss right away, with the exquisite timbres of Julius Eastman’s Joy Boy and Respighi’s “Il Tramonto” (The Sunset), sung by mezzo-soprano Krista River, that moves from bliss to heartbreak and death. From that burnished world, Lutosławski’s Musique Funèbre descends further into the darkness of grief and rage. Lusitano’s 16th-century meditation “Aspice Domine” opens the door to healing, and Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia waits for us on the other side of it all, quietly linking the human and the divine.
*Audience capacity in each venue may be reduced as a COVID safety precaution. Restrictions will be lifted as public health conditions improve and in compliance with individual venue protocols. Consider purchasing an In-Person Subscription today for guaranteed seats to live performances throughout the 2021-2022 season.
“The plot of “Il Tramonto,” based on a Shelley poem, deals with a pair of lovers, together for the first time. They casually dream about watching the sunset. But that night, the man dies in his sleep. The woman remains… Respighi writes music to capture her sadness that is so incredible it’ll make you want to hug the next person you see.”
