The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University will showcase both contemporary and milestone works during two orchestral concerts March 7-8 in Stude Concert Hall at Alice Pratt Brown Hall, featuring guest composer Nina C. Young and the world premiere of Arthur Gottschalk’s 50th anniversary commission.
The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra’s “Britten, Sibelius & Young” March 7 conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya will include Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 and Young’s “Tread softly.” (Tickets available here.)
Young, who is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, described “Tread softly” as a deeply personal work that invites listeners into a shared space of vulnerability. The piece takes its title from W.B. Yeats’ poem “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” and was originally commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its Project 19 initiative marking the centennial of the 19th Amendment.
“It exposes a lot of fragility,” Young said. “There is something genuinely beautiful about communing with the performers through that vulnerability and discovering how shared attention can turn something delicate into something strong.”
Young will be in residence leading up to the Houston premiere of her work, collaborating with Shepherd School students in rehearsals and classroom settings.
“The piece is full of small solo lines, almost like a concerto grosso, that weave in and out and gradually build into a more robust tapestry,” Young said. “I find it deeply engaging to work with the musicians and the conductor as we sculpt that balance together in real time during the rehearsal process.”
The Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra will follow with “Springtime Rhapsody” at 2 p.m. March 8. Also conducted by Harth-Bedoya, the program features Astor Piazzolla’s “Tangazo,” Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 and the world premiere of Gottschalk’s “Tombeaux: pour un création d’une rhapsodie.” (Tickets available here.)
Gottschalk said his 50th anniversary commission “Tombeaux” draws on the French memorial form known as a tombeau while also nodding to two early 20th-century landmarks: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Darius Milhaud’s “La Création du Monde.”
“I combined the idea of tombeau with the 21st-century popular practice of the ‘mashup,’ although taking that to extremes and adding a whole lot of my own whimsical takes on the concept of jazz and popular music as an art music catalyst,” Gottschalk said.
Composed for Shepherd School alum Milton Rubén Laufer ’03, now head of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, the work was designed to spotlight the pianist’s virtuosity. Gottschalk incorporates the iconic solo piano associated with “Rhapsody in Blue” while drawing on Milhaud’s instrumentation for the score. “Tombeaux” retains the original alto saxophone part, performed by guest artist Scott Plugge, while expanding the ensemble to include violas.
“I am grateful to have the talented students of my school making my composition’s premiere performance as well as a distinguished alumnus and a celebrated guest artist,” Gottschalk said. “I have had the good fortune to be a faculty member at this institution since almost its inception, and I am immensely proud of the generations of alumni that we have been privileged to work with over these years.”
“Tombeaux” is the final of seven new works by Shepherd School faculty composers in celebration of the school’s 50th anniversary, supported in part by Rice’s Office of Research. Learn more about the anniversary commissions here.