A world premiere, 3 UK premieres and a young upcoming composer… BBC NOW – NOW! Is our new contemporary series dedicated to the best new music from around the world being written today.
Kicking off the series is BBC NOW’s Composer-in-Association, Gavin Higgins, with the concerts world premiere, his Sarabande, before we turn to the exciting multi-award-winning Chinese American composer Tan Dun and his Three Muses in Video Game. This trombone concerto pays tribute to gaming music, whilst reflecting the traditional music of China - with its movements named after ancient Chinese instruments these distinctive sounds are the muse for orchestra and soloist alike. To perform we’re delighted to welcome Jrgen van Rijen, who also gave the works world premiere.
Composition: Wales 2023 participant Anna Whitcombe’s And the Skies Become Vermillion leads us into a celebration of Ross Edwards’ 80th birthday with the UK premiere of his rhythmic, colourful and radiant Chorale and Ecstatic Dance, then comes a UK premiere by Sir James MacMillan. A musical snapshot of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem Mariana – the work explores grief through highly charged and expressive modal melodies vying with primal outbursts, lamenting and introverted solos and complex counterpoint.
