Steven R. Gerber - A digital concert showcasing the late American composer, FREE-to-view from 26 February 2021

One in a series of 'Composer Portraits' recorded by the English Symphony Orchestra and their American Conductor, Kenneth Woods

UNITED KINGDOM, February 25, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Music from Wyastone – Studio Concert Series
Available from 1930 GMT, Friday 26 February 2021, FREE-of-charge for four days and afterwards in the ESO Digital Archive: www.eso.co.uk/gerber/

Programme:
Gerber arr. Daron Hagen
Sinfonietta No.1 (based on the Piano Quintet)
Gerber arr. Adrian Williams
String Sinfonia No.1 (based on String Quartet No.4)
Gerber Two Lyric Pieces – Soloist: Emily Davis (Violin)
Gerber arr. Adrian Williams
String Sinfonia No.2 (based on String Quartet No.6)
Gerber arr. Adrian Williams
Sinfonietta No.2 (based on String Quartet No.5)

English Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Kenneth Woods
Guest Leader: Emily Davis

The English Symphony Orchestra’s Music from Wyastone series of virtual concerts, hailed by the critics as “one of the most innovative initiatives of the Covid era” continues on the 26th February with the first of several planned Composer Portrait concerts focusing on the work of the American composer Steven R. Gerber, who passed away in 2015. The concert features guest violin soloist Emily Davis and is conducted by Kenneth Woods, the ESO’s Artistic Director.

“The Composer Portrait series has been a key part of our aspirations for Music from Wyastone since we first began looking at the viability and usefulness of online concerts,” said Kenneth Woods. “From the start, we’ve been determined that during this difficult time we focus on making a meaningful contribution to the broadening of our repertoire and to introducing new and more varied concert formats. Steven is one of several composers who we think our audiences will come to treasure once they get to know his music, and it’s so exciting be able to present a concert like this, which really shows the breadth of his musical vision.”

Steven R. Gerber was born on September 28, 1948 in Washington, D.C. He held degrees from Haverford College and from Princeton University, where he received a 4-year fellowship. Steven’s music composition teachers include Robert Parris, J. K. Randall, Earl Kim, and Milton Babbitt. His early works were in a free atonal style, incorporating serial and non-twelve-tone languages into a distinctive and deeply personal sound world. During his years as a graduate student at Princeton and throughout the 1970's, he wrote a number of stunning compositions, such as the a cappella choral works Dylan Thomas Settings and Illuminations (Rimbaud). Beginning in the early 1980s, he abandoned twelve-tone and atonal composition, with rare exceptions, and his music became much more tonal while still retaining the expressive elements of his earlier works.

Steven's music gained international attention as a result of recorded CD releases featuring several of his major works for orchestra as well as concertos. His Symphony No. 1, Dirge and Awakening, the Viola Concerto and Triple Overture were recorded by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling on the Chandos label.

The ESO were excited to give the first performances of his two Sinfoniettas for Orchestra and his two Sinfonias for String Orchestra and his Two Lyric Pieces for Violin and Strings. The Sinfoniettas and Sinfonias are compelling arrangements of Gerber’s chamber music by composers Adrian Williams and Daron Hagen, commissioned by the Steven R. Gerber Trust.

Violinist Emily Davis guest leads the programme and appears as soloist in Gerber’s evocative Two Lyric Pieces for Violin and Strings. Solo performances have taken Emily Davis to festivals and venues across the world. Recent highlights include Arvo Pärt’s "Fratres" with conductor Vasily Petrenko at the Pärnu Festival in Estonia; Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons” at the Bergen International Festival; the Cuban premiere of Vaughan Williams’s “Lark Ascending”; Szymanowski’s Concerto No.2 with the Ålesund Symphony Orchestra (Norway), and both Prokofiev’s Concerto No.1 and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra and Outcry Ensemble in London. She has broadcast live as a soloist on British (BBC), Estonian, Romanian, Cuban and Irish (RTÉ) radio stations.

Future Composer Portrait concerts will focus on the music of Adrian Williams, Emily Doolittle, James Francis Brown and Philip Sawyers.

All ESO virtual concerts are available at ESO Digital where supporters have access to the full ESO online archive.

For further information about the English Symphony Orchestra, visit www.eso.co.uk

Karen Fletcher
Archery Music Promotions
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