BMOP Presents David Del Tredici's CHILD ALICE, 3/25

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the 2016 Musical America Ensemble of the Year, ends its 20th anniversary season with the Boston premiere of David Del Tredici's complete Child Alice (1981) featuring the acclaimed soprano Courtenay Budd. Based on poems prefacing Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, this 135-minute evening-length work changed the course of 20th century music.

"David Del Tredici is perhaps best known for being at the forefront of classical music's neo-romantic movement," explains Gil Rose, Artistic Director and Conductor of BMOP. "His postmodern reinventions of Lewis Carroll's timeless heroine, Alice, gave rise to lush and melodic compositions-which, despite their beauty, are far from simple. Like Carroll's books, Del Tredici's music is always teetering on that edge between whimsy and madness. It takes an artist with the ability for a sure touch and an intricate vision to achieve that."

For over two decades, Del Tredici was obsessed with crafting music from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books. "The two Wonderland books are for me source material-a collection of stories and poems from which I can draw- much, I like to think, as Mahler dipped repeatedly into Des Knaben Wunderhorn for text and inspiration," said Del Tredici. "I've taken separate chapters, different poems, and made complete pieces out of them."

Del Tredici's fascination yielded a series of diverse compositions including An Alice Symphony (1969), Adventures Underground (1971), the theatrical, operatic orchestral work Final Alice (1976), and the lush, neo-romantic Child Alice. Both Final Alice and In Memory of a Summer Day (Part I of Child Alice) generated best- selling recordings; In Memory of a Summer Day won the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1980.

The evening-length work Child Alice is set in two parts, each of which has received repeat, highly acclaimed performances by leading orchestras. The text for Part I, In Memory of a Summer Day, is the poem "Child of the Pure Unclouded Brow" which prefaces Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. The title is taken from Carroll's dedication in the book's original manuscript: "A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer Day." The text of Part II, Quaint Events-Happy Voices-All in the Golden Afternoon, is the preface poem "All in the Golden Afternoon" from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Both parts are sung by the soprano in contrasting settings, and are separated by orchestral movements.

A champion of Del Tredici's work, vocalist Budd garnered rave reviews for her Child Alice performance in 2012, with The New York Times stating "Ms. Budd brought gleaming sound, complete involvement and impressive stamina to both cycles."

About BMOP
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is the premier orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A unique institution of crucial artistic importance to today's musical world, BMOP exists to disseminate exceptional orchestral music of the present and recent past via performances and recordings of the highest caliber. Founded by Artistic Director Gil Rose in 1996, BMOP has championed composers whose careers span nine decades. Each season, Rose brings BMOP's award-winning orchestra, renowned soloists, and influential composers to the stage of New England Conservatory's historic Jordan Hall in a series that offers orchestral programming of unmatched diversity. The musicians of BMOP are consistently lauded for the energy, imagination, and passion with which they infuse the music of the present era. For more information, please visit BMOP.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.