LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA PRESENTS LACO-COMMISSIONED WORLD PREMIERE BY SAMUEL ADAMS, FEATURING PRINCIPAL PERCUSSION WADE CULBREATH, AND DVORÁK’S PIANO QUINTET NO. 2 IN A MAJOR ON EASTSIDE CHAMBER SERIES
Saturday, March 26, 2022, 8 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino
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(Los Angeles, CA, February 3, 2022) Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Eastside Chamber Series continues with the highly anticipated LACO-commissioned world premiere of Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Samuel Adam’s Sundail, an exploration of duality celebrating light and dark for string quartet and percussion, featuring Principal Percussion Wade Culbreath, and Dvořák’s lively Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, on Saturday, March 26, 2022, 8 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino. The program opens with Bach’s Contrpuncus I from “The Art of the Fugue” (version for string quartet) arranged by Stefano Scodanibbio.
Adams explains that, structurally, his new work, Sundial, is true to its name: “the five instruments project a series of musical shadows that, in constant motion, reveal the passage of time in the shape of an arc.” The title also suggests an object that depends upon light and shadow. To emphasize this duality, Adams built the piece from two types of music: “rocking” music that sways and pulses between two harmonies, and contrapuntal “cyclic” music. Before composing the work, Adams says he was immersed Renaissance vocal music, appreciating its construction and crisp melodies. This experience helped shape the work in ways both overt and subtle. The idea of resonance itself is another important concept in the work. Adams notes he “treated the five voices a little bit like a sustain pedal on a piano; in many passages, the strings elongate the percussion sounds and vice versa, creating a kind of
‘hyper-resonance.’” One may observe many other things in this piece such as the interplay between “rocking” and “cyclic” elements, or the bright metallic sounds of the percussion and how they mesh with the warmth of the string quartet. One may even discern dizzying joy emerging from the darkness, something Adams attributes to a personal milestone, the birth of his first child.
Culbreath was appointed Principal Percussionist of LACO in 2009.A much sought after musician in Los Angeles, Culbreath is the principal percussionist with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and principal timpani with the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra. As a session musician, he has played on hundreds of soundtrack recordings, including the Academy Award-winning scores for “Aladdin,” “La La Land,” and “Life of Pi.” Culbreath studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and performer’s certificate.
LACO recognizes the generous support of the Colburn Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Steinway is the official piano of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The Orchestra also receives public funding via grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. LACO gratefully acknowledges Hogan Lovells US LLP for generous pro bono support.
Tickets are $58 and may be purchased online at laco.org or by calling LACO at 213 622 7001 x1. Discounted tickets are also available by phone for seniors 65 years of age and older and for students.
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