Pittsburgh premiere by Reena Esmail melds Hindustani and Western classical music.
Resonance Works kicks off 2024 with This Love Between Us, a choral-orchestral concert featuring Bach’s sparkling Magnificat, the Pittsburgh premiere of This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity by Reena Esmail, and Breaking Bread for solo violin by Nkeiru Okoye, performed by the Resonance Chamber Orchestra, Festival Chorus, and a spectacular quintet of soloists, conducted by Maria Sensi Sellner. There will be two performances, one at Trinity Cathedral downtown on February 2nd and another on February 4th at Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church.
“I knew the moment I first heard This Love Between Us that we had to perform it here,” says Sellner, Resonance Works’ Artistic & General Director. , Esmail’s piece, written in 2016, combines the sonic worlds of Hindustani and Western classical music and reflects on the themes of unity and kindness. Building on the success of the company’s “remarkable” (OnStage Pittsburgh) “Mass in B Minor” last season and 2019’s “St. John Passion,” Resonance Works continues its journey through the major works of Johann Sebastian Bach with one of the most popular and vibrant – his “Magnificat in D major” from 1733. “We are passionate about presenting both important new American works and excellent Bach to Pittsburgh, so the cultural intersection of Esmail’s transcendent piece and Bach’s sublime Magnificat made this pairing the perfect choice as we step into our second decade.”
Making their Pittsburgh debuts are:
- Pakistani-American soprano Samina Aslam praised her “velvet tone” and celebrated for recent debuts with the Portland Opera and Chautauqua Opera.
- Sri Lankan-American mezzo-soprano Tahanee Aluwihare, hailed as “impeccable” by OperaWire.
- Critically acclaimed Korean-American multidisciplinary bass Paul Chwe MinChul An has performed as an oratorio soloist and chamber musician with such groups as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street.
One of the country’s most called upon Bach specialists, tenor soloist Gene Stenger, a Pittsburgh native hailed as “impressive” by The New York Times, makes his company debut, joined by Pittsburgh and Resonance Works favorite, soprano Katy Shackleton Williams.
Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, one of the most exciting voices in new music today, brings communities together by creating equitable musical spaces. This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity juxtaposes texts from seven religious traditions, setting them in English and their original languages. Each movement is also a unique combination of Indian and Western classical styles, spanning a continuum from the Christian movement, rooted firmly in the baroque style, to the Zoroastrian movement, which calls upon the Hindustani vilambit bandish.
“Even more than uniting musical practices, this piece unites people from two different musical traditions: a sitar and tabla join the choir and baroque orchestra. Each of the musicians is asked to keep one hand firmly rooted in their own tradition and training, while reaching the other hand outward to greet another musical culture,” Esmail says in her program notes.
For these performances, Sitar player Michael Griska and tabla player are joining the Resonance Chamber Orchestra. A Pittsburgh native, Griska began his sitar training with Pittsburgh’s own Dr. Sushanta Banerjee and has traveled the world studying, performing, and accompanying his Guruji, Pandit K. Sridhar. Mukherjee, an alum of the University of Pittsburgh, began studying tabla at age six and is under the guidance of his guru, internationally renowned tabla virtuoso Pandit Samir Chatterjee.
Acclaimed Pittsburgh-based violinist Maureen Conlon Gutierrez will open the program with Breaking Bread by American composer Nkeiru Okoye, which acts as an invocation for the journey to come. Okoye is an American-born composer of African American and Nigerian ancestry whose compositions incorporate various musical styles and influences to create a sound that is all her own. Breaking Bread culminates in a quotation from the African American spiritual, Let Us Break Bread Together, sung in many American denominations as a communion hymn, reminding the listener to enter this shared space with the spirit of peace and humility.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Resonance Works presentation of This Love Between Us has performances on Friday, February 2, 7:30 p.m. at the Trinity Cathedral, Downtown Pittsburgh and on Sunday, February 4, 4:00 p.m. at the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church.
Tickets at www.resonanceworks.org/this-love-between-us
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Show Previews
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