New England Philharmonic Announces the 2022-23 Season with Newly Appointed Music Director Tianhui Ng
This season features 3 works commissioned by the NEP, 10 New England and Boston premieres, 2 World premieres, and an incredible diversity of classical music across a 4-concert season.
Boston, MA – The New England Philharmonic announces a season of four concerts under the baton of Tianhui Ng, its new Music Director. Maestro Ng and Eric Nathan, NEP Composer-in-Residence, programmed a season that features works by living composers alongside music of the past, in concerts that respond to current world events and celebrate a vibrant range of voices.
The NEP’s 46th season includes the premieres of three NEP commissions: the world premieres of Matthew Aucoin’s Two Dances and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Fanfare for Richard Pittman, and the New England premiere of Eric Nathan’s In Between II. The NEP continues its commitment to championing music by both renowned and emerging living composers with 10 New England or Boston premieres of works by John Corigliano, Gabriela Ortiz, Kareem Roustrom, Mary D. Watkins, Iván Rodríguez, Texu Kim, and Adeliia Faizullina, as well as Elijah Daniel Smith’s 2022 NEP Call for Scores winning work, Wraith Weight. The season also features two solo appearances by concertmaster Danielle Maddon, in the New England premiere of Thomas de Hartmann’s Violin Concerto, written in 1943, and in Matthew Aucoin’s Two Dances. A performance of Shostakovich’s powerful Symphony No. 7 closes the season.
For Tian, working with the NEP “presents a rare opportunity to share the riches of the music of our time with audiences at large, where the orchestra’s commitment and palpable love of this music is excitingly infectious.” This infectious energy with a high level of performance transmits to the audience: “when it comes to connecting with the music and performing with spirit, the New England Philharmonic sets a high standard,” writes Globe reviewer AZ Madonna. Composer-in-Residence Eric Nathan adds that he is looking forward to continuing his relationship with the NEP “as we introduce exciting new and recent works to our audiences by a range of composers who communicate so meaningfully.”
Education is central to the NEP’s mission, and the musicians are excited for the return of the Family Concert after a two-year hiatus. The programming for the Family Concert is never brought to the simplest of form and sound, but rather offers a broad experience of classical music and sonic discovery. Each concert includes some commentary by the conductor or a composer, often with live demonstrations of various sections of a work. This gives the audience, whether 8 years old or 80, a way into a work that may never have been heard before.
In the virtual concert hall, “Listening In”, the NEP’s online interview series, co-hosted by Nathan and Maddon, will return for a third season. It takes audiences on a deep dive into the musical worlds of some of the composers featured in the season. These interviews with the composers themselves offer audiences a deeper understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the music. The series lineup will be announced at a later date.
Remembered Futures, Oct. 30, 2022, 3 pm at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, features Corigliano’s Symphony no. 1, written in 1990 in memory of those lost to AIDS; Mary D. Watkins’s 1994 Soul of Remembrance, from Five Movements in Color; A Metaphor for Power (2018) by the Puerto Rican-born composer Iván Rodríguez; and concludes with Composer-in-Residence Eric Nathan’s Opening, written in 2021 for the Milwaukee Symphony with antiphonal performers that surround the audience in sound.
The NEP’s annual Family Concert, Symphonic Dance Party, Dec. 4, 2022, 3pm, at Boston University Tsai Center, presents dances from Copland’s 1942 ballet Rodeo; Spin-Flip (2014) by the Korean American composer Texu Kim, inspired by both black holes and table tennis; Kauyumari (2021) by Gabriela Ortiz, evoking the Blue Deer spirit guide of the Huichol people of Mexico in an evocation of new beginnings; and a concerto movement performed by the winner of the NEP’s Young Artist Competition.
Poetic Dances, Feb. 18, 2023, 8 pm, Jordan Hall, features Fanfare for Richard Pittman by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich commissioned by the NEP; the Syrian American composer Kareem Roustom’s Ramal, written for the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 2014 and inspired by the rhythms of Arabic poetry; NEP Call for Scores winner Wraith Weight (2021) by Elijah Daniel Smith; the world premiere arrangement of Two Dances by Matthew Aucoin (soloists to be announced); and Rachmaninoff’s scintillating Symphonic Dances from 1940.
The season finale, People in Between, May 7, 2023, 3pm, at Tsai Performance Center, includes the local premiere of Bolghar (2020), a work for quray (a Tatar folk instrument) and orchestra by the Uzbekistan-born Tatar composer Adeliia Faizullina; Eric Nathan’s In Between II, an NEP co-commission; the first local performance of the Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann’s Violin Concerto, written in 1943, with Danielle Maddon, violin soloist; and Shostakovich’s harrowing “Leningrad” Symphony no. 7, first performed during the siege of that city in 1942.
The New England Philharmonic’s 46th Season
Remembered Futures
Sunday, October 30, 2022, 3pm
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall
John Corigliano
Symphony no. 1 (1988)
Mary D. Watkins
Soul of Remembrance, from Five Movements in Color (1994)
Boston premiere
Iván Rodríguez
A Metaphor for Power (2018)
New England premiere
Eric Nathan
Opening (2021)
New England premiere
Symphonic Dance Party
Annual Family Concert
Sunday, December 4, 2022, 3pm
Boston University Tsai Performance Center
Texu Kim
Spin-Flip (2014)
New England premiere
Gabriela Ortiz
Kauyumari (2021)
New England premiere
Young Artist Competition Concerto Winner
To be announced
Aaron Copland
Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes (1942)
Poetic Dances
Saturday, February 18, 2023, 8pm
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Fanfare for Richard Pittman (2022) NEP commission, world premiere
Kareem Roustom
Ramal (2014)
Boston premiere
Elijah Daniel Smith
Wraith Weight (2021)
2022 NEP Call for Scores winner New England premiere
Matthew Aucoin
Two Dances (arr. 2022)
Danielle Maddon & Keir GoGwilt, violins
World premiere of orchestral arrangement
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Symphonic Dances (1940)
People in Between
Sunday, May 7, 2023, 3pm
Boston University Tsai Performance Center
Adeliia Faizullina
Bolghar, for Quray and Symphony Orchestra (2020)
New England premiere
Eric Nathan
In Between II (2023)
NEP co-commission, New England premiere
Thomas de Hartmann
Violin Concerto, op. 66 (1943)
Danielle Maddon, violin
New England premiere
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony no. 7, “Leningrad” (1941)