COFFEE: FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN MUSIC 2 – JOURNEYS OF FAITH

The LO will explore the music of Jewish-American icon Leonard Bernstein and an important work by composer and educator Joel Thompson based on the words of African-American writer James Baldwin. The concert will also showcase the world premiere of Creators Corps Composer Tyler Taylor’s Revisions for saxophone ensemble and orchestra.

Leonard Bernstein, influenced by poet W. H Auden’s work of the same title, explored existentialism in the modern world. Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 explores the Seven Ages of Man with the piano soloist as the protagonist.

Sebastian Chang‘s first major performance as a piano soloist was in his own composition Concertino for Piano and Orchestra with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra at the age of 9. Sebastian obtained his B.M. in Composition from the Curtis Institute of Music & an M.M. in Composition from the University of Southern California. Chang is a regular collaborator with the Louisville Orchestra as an orchestral pianist and for many special events.

Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps Member Tyler Taylor will have the world premiere of his commissioned work for the LO this weekend, entitled Revisions. Taylor’s most recent pieces are explorations of the different ways identity can be expressed in musical scenarios. Common among these pieces is a sense of contradiction – sometimes
whimsical, sometimes alarming – that comes from the interaction of diverse musical layers. This
line of expression comes from his experiences as a person of mixed race; being raised on hip hop
and R&B while inheriting a European tradition of “classical art music” as his primary form of
musical expression in spite of having little or no other cultural ties to Europe; and pursuing a
career in a field that generally lacks representation of his demographic. Born into a family of
non-musicians and without traditional context for his positioning in the world of classical music,
Tyler proudly embraces an identity as an infiltrator and a timely contradiction of the status quo.
Tyler was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1992. He holds degrees from the Indiana University
Jacobs School of Music (DM Composition with minors in music theory and horn performance),
the Eastman School of Music (MM Composition), and the University of Louisville (BM
Composition). His principal composition teachers include Tansy Davies, Aaron Travers, Don
Freund, David Liptak, Robert Morris, Krzysztof Wołek, and Steve Rouse. His principal horn
teachers include Dale Clevenger, Jeff Nelsen, W. Peter Kurau, and Bruce Heim.

Revisions draws its inspiration from the historical relationship – or lack thereof – between the saxophone and the orchestra, which historically has been viewed as not a suitable orchestral instrument perhaps partly because of its association in the early part of the 20th century with Jazz and black expressions of music, and therefore associated with a race of people who were viewed as inferior by a majority in the classical scene. In the case of Revisions, the saxophone’s history comes charged with immense dramatic and symbolic potential. The presence of the saxophone quartet, seated alongside the string section principals, creates a dramatic tension within the orchestra as part of a scenario that explores power dynamics, unity, division, companionship, and finding a sense of place.

Concert Program:
Tyler TAYLOR: Revisions (World Premiere piece commissioned from the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps)
Leonard BERNSTEIN:  Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”

Teddy Abrams, conductor
Sebastian Chang, piano

BAIRD COFFEE SERIES
CONCERT SPONSORED BY THE SCHADT FAMILY
Annual Tribute Concert of the Louisville Orchestra
Complimentary coffee is provided by Heine Bros.