Cosmic Heartbeats
8:00PM Concert
7:15PM Musical Insights with Alexina Louie & Guests
Alluding to ritual Korean court music as well as lively traditional Korean folkloric music, Chin’s depiction of “heartbeat stars” in Alaraph blends a large array of percussion instruments with massive orchestral forces to create a work of tremendous energy and physicality. Esprit’s premiere of Ma’s Hijinks launches not only an exciting new work but also a young composer’s early career in the manner Esprit has done for young composers through its history.
The world premiere of O’Callaghan’s new work provides the composer with the opportunity to drop his usual blend of acoustic and electronic instruments and focus intensely on writing for the orchestra alone.
Vivier’s “long song of solitude”, in both French and the invented language from the composer’s extraordinary imagination, is autobiographical and subconsciously self-revelatory in nature. Lonely Child conveys child-like innocence as well as a profound reaching out to the heavens and the solace of eternity.
featuring
Alex Pauk Conductor
Sophia Burgos (USA) Soprano
PROGRAMME
Nicholas Ma (CAN)
Hijinks * (2024)
James O'Callaghan (CAN)
New Work * (2025)
Claude Vivier (CAN)
Lonely Child (1980)
for soprano & orchestra
Unsuk Chin (KOR)
Alaraph 'Ritus des Herschlagz' **(2023)
Anna Meredith (GBR)
Nautilus (2011/21)
* World Premiere & Esprit Orchestra Commission
**CANADIAN PREMIERE
Imaginary Pancake
8:00PM Concert
FREE RECEPTION FOLLOWING THE PERFORMANCE
How do you suppose American composer Gabriella Smith comes up with such inventive titles for her works? Tonight, we’ll present the third of her cleverly titled pieces this season. On this evening’s program, Esprit also revisists Claude Vivier’s crowd favourite Pulau Dewata for chamber orchestra and contrasts a solo work for piano with larger works by the same composer (Gabriella Smith) performed earlier in the season. A reprise of Chris Paul Harman’s Partita provides listeners the chance to hear Mark Fewer perform this immensely virtuosic piece in the fine acoustic environment of Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, and Ryan Scott will be sure to amaze with an electrifying performance of Keiko Abe’s Michi. After the concert, stick around to mingle with the artists and enjoy a free refreshment! Can you imagine what an Imaginary Pancake sounds like?
featuring
Alex Pauk Conductor
Wesley Shen Piano
Mark Fewer Violin
Ryan Scott Marimba
PROGRAMME
Claude Vivier (CAN)
Pulau Dewata (1977)
Arranged by John Rea
Keiko Abe (JPN)
Michi (1979)
for solo marimba
Ben Nobuto (GBR)
Serenity 2.0* (2021)
for string quartet, percussion & electronics
Gabriella Smith (USA)
Imaginary Pancake (2020)
for solo piano
Chris Paul Harman (CAN)
Partita #2 for Solo Violin (2019)
*Canadian Premiere
Carrot Revolution
8:00PM Concert
7:15PM Musical Insights with Alexina Louie & Guests
Along with World Premieres of two chamber orchestra works (Mermelstein & Tse), this program reprises a work with Brazilian inflections that Esprit previously commissioned from our percussionist Mark Duggan. Percussion has a strong presence on this concert with Ryan Scott performing Abe’s Michi, a marimba solo in contrast to the composer’s The Wave performed earlier in the season. A spectacular percussion duo by Trevino heightens the concert’s percussive element. Two superb string quartets, radically different from one another, highlight the styles of Smith and Rea. Gabriella Smith has a unique sensibility when it comes to naming her pieces. Experience a Carrot Revolution.
featuring
Alex Pauk Conductor
Ryan Scott Percussion
Michael Murphy Percussion
Aline Morales Vocalist
Thalea String Quartet
PROGRAMME
Gabriella Smith (USA)
Carrot Revolution (2015)
for string quartet
Mark Duggan (CAN)
Maracatu Imaginário (2017)
for vocalist & ensemble
Julia Mermelstein (CAN)
Floral Reef * (2024)
Quinn Jacobs (CAN)
New Work * (2025)
Roydon Tse (CAN)
Stepwise * (2023)
Ivan Trevino (MEX)
Wildlings (2014)
for two percussionists
John Rea (CAN)
Objets perçus (2023)
for string quartet
*World Premiere & Esprit Orchestra Commission
Icefire, Do-Re-Mi & Caring for the Earth
8:00PM Concert
7:15PM Musical Insights with Alexina Louie & Guests
In Streich’s ISHJÄRTA distinctive chordal characteristics emerge in a soundspace of contrasting layers—mists, shimmering veils, a capped, shielded world. This is a piece about heart and intensifying expression.
Eötvös’ DoReMi Concerto reconfigures the notes of various well-known nursery rhymes and childhood songs to create tensions and conflicts as in real life. Dramatic situations can evolve—and in this work they do!
A question for audiences of 2118 about how notions of time, space, sound and history have shaped their world guided Norman in writing Sustain as a continuous spiral contemplating the rise and fall of species, the movement of tectonic plates, the birth and death of stars and the question of how the Earth will fare over long periods into the future.
featuring
Alex Pauk Conductor
Akiko Suwanai (JPN) Violin
Lisa Streich (SWE) Guest Composer
Andrew Norman (USA) Guest Composer
PROGRAMME
Lisa Streich (SWE)
ISHJÄRTA * (2022-23)
Peter Eötvös (HUN)
Violin Concerto #2 "DoReMi" ** (2011-12)
Andrew Norman (USA)
Sustain (2018)
* North American Premiere
** Canadian Premiere
Chasing Vito
8:00PM Concert
7:15PM Musical Insights with Alexina Louie & Guests
From the blast of percussive exuberance in Abe’s The Wave to the immense force of windpower summoned up in Žuraj’s Anemoi, audiences will be on the edge of their seats as the reverberations from these pieces wash over them. While The Wave features percussion only, a large battery of percussive forces forms part of a gigantic orchestra conveying the powers of Žuraj’s winds of antiquity.
Prepare to be swept away. In keeping with the meaning of its title, Shaw’s Entr’acte, for strings alone, is a refreshing diversion between these pieces as it riffs on classical form and ”takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolour transition.”
featuring
Alex Pauk Conductor
Ryan Scott (CAN) Marimba
Vito Žuraj (SVN) Guest Composer
PROGRAMME
Keiko Abe (JPN)
The Wave (2000)
for marimba & 4 percussionists
Caroline Shaw (USA)
Entr'acte (2011)
for string orchestra
Vito Žuraj (SVN)
Anemoi * (2024)
* North American Premiere, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker & Esprit Orchestra