BMOP Showcases Work of Hungarian Composers Tonight

Boston, MA --- The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the nation's premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new orchestral music, presents an evening dedicated to four composers of Hungarian descent - Bálint Karosi (b.1979), Kati Agócs (b.1975), György Ligeti (1923-2006) and Béla Bartók (1881-1945). Complemented by the innovative all-female vocal group Lorelei Ensemble, BMOP performs the world premieres of Karosi's Existentia-in memory of Sándor Weöres (commissioned by BMOP) and Agócs's The Debrecen Passion, as well as Ligeti's Violin Concerto (1990) featuring violinist Gabriela Diaz, and Bartók's Three Village Scenes (1926).

Spanning almost a century, the four pieces on the eclectic program encompass influences of Hungarian folk melody, American minimalism, late Romanticism, French Impressionism, and Baroque music, along with the distinctive sensibilities of their composers. "Collectively, these works demonstrate the necessary spirit and rhythmic accuracy that is inherent in Hungarian folk music," says Gil Rose, the Artistic Director and Conductor of BMOP.

The evening includes two new works both inspired by important literary voices to emerge from Hungary during the second half of the 20th century. Bálint Karosi's Existentia-in memory of Sándor Weöres musically reflects the directness, lyricism, simple form and rich sonorities of the poet Weöres's poignant works. A devoted teacher of organ, improvisation and music theory, Karosi has taught at Boston University and UMass Boston. His compositions include chamber music, cantatas, art songs, works for organ, and sacred and orchestral music. Another emerging Hungarian composer is Kati Agócs, a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow and professor at the New England Conservatory. A composer whose music merges lapidary rigor with accessible lyricism, Agócs is a risk-taker in her use of instruments. Her latest work, The Debcrecen Passion, featuring the Lorelei Ensemble, interlaces and, at times, juxtaposes modern poems by Szilárd Borbély with ancient religious texts in Hungarian, Latin, Hebrew, and Georgian. "The Debrecen Passion draws from the wellsprings of my Hungarian heritage, affirming the deep impact of the time that I have spent in Hungary, upon my life as a musician," said Agócs. "It also reflects the tensions of present-day Hungary, in particular the profound political and social changes of the last 10 years, with Borbély's poetry acting as both catalyst and conscience." BMOP has previously performed Agócs's music, and is preparing a 2015 CD release of her orchestral works on the BMOP/sound label.

György Ligeti's Concerto for violin and orchestra stands in the tradition of grand, virtuosic violin concertos. In his search to find an alternative to the equal-tempered system, Ligeti integrates the use of microintervals into his colorful approach to composition. "My idea was to distribute among certain instruments in the orchestra (the scordatura strings, the two horns and trombone and also the woodwinds) the overtones of the harmonic series and I had imagined wonderful new harmonies built on the combination of these overtones," explained Ligeti.

Concluding the program is Bela Bartók's Three Village Scenes - three songs arranged for female voices (sung in Hungarian) and chamber orchestra. Bartók's answer to Stravinsky's Les Noces, Three Village Scenes shows some of his most imaginative orchestral writing. Dedicated to Ditta Pásztory, whom Bartók married in 1923, the work sets authentic Slovak songs about everyday village life, particularly marriage. Full of complex rhythms and tempos, it opens with Wedding, followed by Lullaby and The Lad's Dance.

About BMOP:

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is widely recognized as the leading orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing new music, and its signature record label, BMOP/sound, is the nation's foremost label launched by an orchestra and solely devoted to new music recordings. Founded in 1996 by Artistic Director Gil Rose, BMOP affirms its mission to illuminate the connections that exist naturally between contemporary music and contemporary society by reuniting composers and audiences in a shared concert experience. In its first 18 seasons, BMOP established a track record that includes more than one hundred performances, over a hundred world premieres (including forty commissioned works), two Opera Unlimited festivals with Opera Boston, the inaugural Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music with the ICA/Boston, and 61 commercial recordings, including 40 CDs from BMOP/sound.

In March 2008, BMOP launched its signature record label, BMOP/sound, with the release of John Harbison's ballet Ulysses. Its composer-centric releases focus on orchestral works that are otherwise unavailable in recorded form. The response to the label was immediate and celebratory; its five inaugural releases appeared on the "Best of 2008" lists of the New York Times, Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Downbeat, and American Record Guide, among others.

BMOP/sound is the recipient of five Grammy Award nominations: in 2009 for Charles Fussell: Wilde (Best Classical Vocal Performance); in 2010 for Derek Bermel: Voices (Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra); and three nominations in 2011 for its recording of Steven Mackey: Dreamhouse (Best Engineered Classical Album, Best Classical Album, and Best Orchestral Performance). The New York Times has proclaimed, "BMOP/sound is an example of everything done right." Additional BMOP recordings are available from Albany, Arsis, Cantaloupe, Centaur, Chandos, ECM, Innova, Naxos, New World, and Oxingale.

In Boston, BMOP performs at Boston's Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall, and the orchestra has also performed in New York at Miller Theater, the Winter Garden, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and The Lyceum in Brooklyn. A perennial winner of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Orchestral Music and 2006 winner of the John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music, BMOP has appeared at the Bank of America Celebrity Series (Boston, MA), Tanglewood, the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the Festival of New American Music (Sacramento, CA), and Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh, PA). In April 2008, BMOP headlined the 10th Annual MATA Festival in New York.

BMOP's greatest strength is the artistic distinction of its musicians and performances. Each season, Gil Rose, recipient of Columbia University's prestigious Ditson Conductor's Award as well as an ASCAP Concert Music award for his extraordinary contribution to new music, gathers together an outstanding orchestra of dynamic and talented young performers, and presents some of the world's top vocal and instrumental soloists. The Boston Globe claims, "Gil Rose is some kind of genius; his concerts are wildly entertaining, intellectually rigorous, and meaningful." Of BMOP performances, The New York Times says: "Mr. Rose and his team filled the music with rich, decisive ensemble colors and magnificent solos. These musicians were rapturous-superb instrumentalists at work and play." www.bmop.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.