Seattle, WA - Billy Childs Concerto ‘Diaspora’ with Seattle Symphony
Conductor: Xian Zhang
Conductor: Xian Zhang
Conductor: Xian Zhang
Conductor: Xian Zhang
Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya
Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya
Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya
Dialogismós: A meditation in music
The Verona Quartet and saxophonist Steven Banks will present an immersive
program that will invite the listener to explore and reflect on the various forms of love
as understood through the lens of the ancient Greeks. These include Agape (selfless
love), Mania (obsessive love), Philautia (self love), Pragma (enduring love), Ludus
(playful love), Eros (erotic love), Philia (affectionate love), and Storge (familial love).
The centerpiece of the program will be a new 20-25 minute work for saxophone and
string quartet written by Christopher Theofanidis. The rest of the program will be built
around the types of love that he will explore in his piece.
To ground and guide the audience, the program will be bound together by a series of
guided meditations that will lead the listener to realize the vital importance of self-love.
Program:
Debussy: Syrinx (Eros), 3’ (offstage prelude)
Mendelssohn: “Ist es wahr” (Pragma), 2’
Debussy: Syrinx (Eros), 3’
Janáček: String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata”, mvt. I. Adagio (Mania), 4’
Mozart: Oboe Quartet (Erotoropia/Ludus), 15’
Steven Banks: “Meditation” from Reflections and Exaltations (Agape), 9’
Reena Esmail: Magan Rehna (spiritual/Agape & friendship/Philia), 6’
INTERMISSION
Christopher Theofanidis: New Work, 25’
Dialogismós: A meditation in music
The Verona Quartet and saxophonist Steven Banks will present an immersive
program that will invite the listener to explore and reflect on the various forms of love
as understood through the lens of the ancient Greeks. These include Agape (selfless
love), Mania (obsessive love), Philautia (self love), Pragma (enduring love), Ludus
(playful love), Eros (erotic love), Philia (affectionate love), and Storge (familial love).
The centerpiece of the program will be a new 20-25 minute work for saxophone and
string quartet written by Christopher Theofanidis. The rest of the program will be built
around the types of love that he will explore in his piece.
To ground and guide the audience, the program will be bound together by a series of
guided meditations that will lead the listener to realize the vital importance of self-love.
Program:
Debussy: Syrinx (Eros), 3’ (offstage prelude)
Mendelssohn: “Ist es wahr” (Pragma), 2’
Debussy: Syrinx (Eros), 3’
Janáček: String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata”, mvt. I. Adagio (Mania), 4’
Mozart: Oboe Quartet (Erotoropia/Ludus), 15’
Steven Banks: “Meditation” from Reflections and Exaltations (Agape), 9’
Reena Esmail: Magan Rehna (spiritual/Agape & friendship/Philia), 6’
INTERMISSION
Christopher Theofanidis: New Work, 25’
Dialogismós: A meditation in music
The Verona Quartet and saxophonist Steven Banks will present an immersive
program that will invite the listener to explore and reflect on the various forms of love
as understood through the lens of the ancient Greeks. These include Agape (selfless
love), Mania (obsessive love), Philautia (self love), Pragma (enduring love), Ludus
(playful love), Eros (erotic love), Philia (affectionate love), and Storge (familial love).
The centerpiece of the program will be a new 20-25 minute work for saxophone and
string quartet written by Christopher Theofanidis. The rest of the program will be built
around the types of love that he will explore in his piece.
To ground and guide the audience, the program will be bound together by a series of
guided meditations that will lead the listener to realize the vital importance of self-love.
Program:
Debussy: Syrinx (Eros), 3’ (offstage prelude)
Mendelssohn: “Ist es wahr” (Pragma), 2’
Debussy: Syrinx (Eros), 3’
Janáček: String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata”, mvt. I. Adagio (Mania), 4’
Mozart: Oboe Quartet (Erotoropia/Ludus), 15’
Steven Banks: “Meditation” from Reflections and Exaltations (Agape), 9’
Reena Esmail: Magan Rehna (spiritual/Agape & friendship/Philia), 6’
INTERMISSION
Christopher Theofanidis: New Work, 25’
Gabriel Pierné – Introduction et variations sur une ronde populaire
Jennifer Higdon – Short Stories
I. Splashing the Canvas
II. Lullaby
III. Chase
Béla Bartók – Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (arr. Lovro Merčep)
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
David Maslanka – Songs for the Coming Day
VIII. The soul is here for its own joy
Edward Grieg – Holberg Suite, Op. 40 “Suite in olden style” (arr. Julian Velasco)
I. Praeludium
II. Sarabande
III. Gavotte
IV. Air
V. Rigaudon
John Makey – Unquiet Spirits
I.
II.
III.
MILHAUD La création du monde
GUILLAUME CONNESSON A Kind of Trane
POULENC Suite from Les Biches
GERSHWIN An American in Paris
A Frenchman in America, longtime Cleveland Orchestra guest conductor Stéphane Denève leads a spirited rendition of Gershwin’s An American in Paris, the iconic 1928 symphonic poem that inspired the Gene Kelly film. Denève also conducts two more works out of the Roaring Twenties by his countrymen Milhaud and Poulenc, as well as the Cleveland premiere of Guillaume Connesson’s saxophone concerto A Kind of Trane — inspired by the great John Coltrane and performed by the acclaimed Steven Banks.
January 9, 2024 - January 11, 2024 - January 12, 2024
Exceptional emerging artists perform beloved, familiar chamber pieces and introduce audiences to new works by outstanding living composers. All concerts will be held in The New School's Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues) (the entrance is appropriate for Access-a-Ride).
Enjoy a delightful musical feast this Thanksgiving weekend! Music Director Manfred Honeck leads a lighthearted celebration of charming polkas and popular waltzes from his hometown of Vienna. Schubert’s Third Symphony and the PSO debut of sax virtuoso Steven Banks add to the elation as the program sings with a heart-on-sleeve celebration of Puccini’s greatest opera hits in this annual program of audience favorites.
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 3
TOMASI: Concerto for Alto Saxophone [PSO Premiere]
BANKS: Come As You Are, III. Strength of My Life [String Orchestra Arrangement Premiere]
November 29, 2024, 7:30pm - December 1, 2024, 2:30pm
RHAPSODY IN BLUE @ 100
Diane Wittry, conductor
Steven Banks, saxophone
Simon Mulligan, piano
Saturday, November 9, 2024, at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 10, 2024, at 2:00 pm
SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Ballade, Op. 33
BILLY CHILDS Saxophone Concerto
WILLIAM GRANT STILL Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American Symphony"
GEORGE GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue
Chamber Music Tulsa is proud to partner with Any Given Child Tulsa to bring chamber music to all 2,700 fourth graders in the Tulsa Public Schools System.
The goal of the Any Given Child Initiative, a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is to assist communities in developing a plan for expanded arts education in their schools ensuring access and equity for all students in grades K-8. In 2010 The Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, in partnership with The City of Tulsa, Tulsa Public Schools, and The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, applied to participate in the initiative.
Symphony & Saxophone
Saturday, July 27, 2024
7pm | Classical Tahoe Ricardi Pavilion
Ruth Reinhardt, conductor
Steven Banks, saxophone
Classical Tahoe Orchestra
PROGRAM
Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony #1 “Classical”
Billy Childs: “Diaspora” Concerto for Saxophone
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony #3
DVOŘÁK Slavonic Dance Op. 46 No. 1
Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Tomasi Saxophone Concerto
Steven Banks, saxophone
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8 in G Major
Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall
Sejong Soloists
World Premiere of my second quintet for saxophone and string quartet!
Xian Zhang, conductor
Steven Banks, saxophone*
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Ballade for Orchestra Op. 33
Billy Childs: Saxophone Concerto** (NSO CO-COMMISSION)
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
Experience the sweeping drama of Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony, inspired by African American and indigenous music the composer encountered during his time in America. It has remained one of the most popular symphonies of all time, even heard in space during Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 lunar spaceflight—a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy.
2023 Grammy®–winning conductor Xian Zhang opens the concert Ballade for Orchestra by African British-American Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Billy Childs’ Saxophone Concerto, co-commissioned by the NSO for Steven Banks.
*NSO subscription debut
**First performance by the NSO
Xian Zhang, conductor
Steven Banks, saxophone*
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Ballade for Orchestra Op. 33
Billy Childs: Saxophone Concerto** (NSO CO-COMMISSION)
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
Experience the sweeping drama of Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony, inspired by African American and indigenous music the composer encountered during his time in America. It has remained one of the most popular symphonies of all time, even heard in space during Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 lunar spaceflight—a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy.
2023 Grammy®–winning conductor Xian Zhang opens the concert Ballade for Orchestra by African British-American Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Billy Childs’ Saxophone Concerto, co-commissioned by the NSO for Steven Banks.
*NSO subscription debut
**First performance by the NSO
Xian Zhang, conductor
Steven Banks, saxophone*
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Ballade for Orchestra Op. 33
Billy Childs: Saxophone Concerto** (NSO CO-COMMISSION)
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
Experience the sweeping drama of Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony, inspired by African American and indigenous music the composer encountered during his time in America. It has remained one of the most popular symphonies of all time, even heard in space during Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 lunar spaceflight—a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy.
2023 Grammy®–winning conductor Xian Zhang opens the concert Ballade for Orchestra by African British-American Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Billy Childs’ Saxophone Concerto, co-commissioned by the NSO for Steven Banks.
*NSO subscription debut
**First performance by the NSO
Na’zir McFadden, conductor
BILLY CHILDS
Saxophone Concerto (Co-Commission)
SHELLEY WASHINGTON
New Work (Co-Commission)