In February of last year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic gave the world premiere of Register, a new organ concerto by Nico Muhly.  I talked with him at the time because I genuinely believe Muhly is one of the great contemporary composers of classical music. If you want to get an idea of how diverse his styles and interests are, look no further than Archives, Friends, Patterns on Friday night at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel.
Muhly has assembled a program that includes his collaboration with Thomas Bartlett on Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music. This album was released in 2018 by Nonesuch Records. It features nine songs the two wrote together and three transcriptions of traditional Gamelan music.
Philip Glass has long been an inspiration for Muhly. As part of this program he will offer his own interpretations of some of the composer’s lesser-known works. These will be performed with Nadia Sirota on the viola and Caroline Shaw on vocals and violin, Alex Sopp on flute, Lisa Kaplan on piano, Lisa Liu on violin, Patrick Belaga on cello and Wade Culbreath on percussion.
Rumors are circulating about some special guests who will be part of this concert. Since Muhly has worked with Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Benjamin Millepied and more, who could they be?
I’m hoping that one or more of his operas, Two Boys, Dark Sides or Marnie might be performed in Los Angeles sooner as opposed to later.  LA Opera? Beth Morrison Projects? REDCAT?
Until that happens, we’ll have Archives, Friends, Patterns which is our pick for Your Best Bet This Week in Culture.
For tickets go here.
Photo of Nico Muhly by Heidi Solander/Courtesy of Cap UCLA