The world premieres and LA Philharmonic commissions continue this weekend with Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power. There are two performances: Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Wolfe is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and the co-founder of Bang on a Can All-Stars. (The other co-founders are David Lang and Michael Gordon.) Bang on a Can All-Stars will be joining the LA Philharmonic for this world premiere.
As one can assume from the title, Flower Power takes its title from the 1960s expression where peace was considered more important than war. No doubt, in our turbulent times, there is much to be learned from that peace movement of the 60s.
Even the photograph provided by the LA Philharmonic references the 60s peace movement.
Apropos of the time period, the instrumentation for Flower Power includes electric organ and piano, tam tams and tambourines.
Conducting the concert will be composer/conductor John Adams. His Naive and Sentimental Music, which had its world premiere in 1999 with the LA Phil, will be performed in the second half of the concert.
When the work had its first performances in New York, Peter G. Davis in New York Magazine called it, “a stunning work I’m sure we will be hearing often in the future.”
Adams dedicated this work to Esa-Pekka Salonen who conducted the world premiere.
This should be a groovy concert, man!
For tickets on Saturday night go here.
For tickets on Sunday afternoon go here.
Photo of Julia Wolfe by Marc Riboud/Courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association