Another Year, Another Season of Seattle Symphony Premieres

By Christopher DeLaurenti

“Let’s do it, let’s try to solve it!” exclaims composer Enrico Chapela during a recent Zoom interview given amidst sugar cane fields in his home of Mexico. He’s eager to tackle the challenge of balancing an orchestra with a solo electric violin for his Antiphaser, a concerto co-commissioned by the Seattle Symphony that has its world premiere this fall (November 3, 5 & 6, 2022) with guest violinist Pekka Kuusisto.  

While Antiphaser might suggest setting a science fiction weapon on stun, the title refers to the relative orbital positions of the Earth and Moon. Chapela’s showcase for electric violin is a planetary nocturne, conjuring what it’s like to view an eclipse from the surface of the Moon and, as the composer explains with evident delight, portrays the “fiery ring of sunsets and sunrises encircling the Earth.” Chapela’s quest for new sounds complements the two other composers on the program, Debussy and Ravel; both created revolutionary orchestral timbres over a century ago. Chapela’s excitement describing Antiphaser is contagious. His sense of adventure is one of the exhilarating elements of the Symphony’s ongoing advocacy of living composers.  

The Seattle Symphony has a storied yet seldom-told history of commissioning new music. During his tenure as the orchestra’s Music Director (2011–2019), Conductor Emeritus Ludovic Morlot extended the Symphony’s tradition of premieres, notably from John Luther Adams, Marc-André Dalbavie and Caroline Shaw. Yet the Symphony’s history runs deep: Milton Katims, who led the Symphony for over two decades (1954–1976), selected Alan Hovhaness as Composer in Residence for the 1966/1967 season. A maker of starry-eyed mystical music, Hovhaness settled in Seattle soon thereafter, sharing his creations with the Symphony and other local ensembles.  

Longtime concertgoers remember Conductor Laureate Gerard Schwarz’s steady stream of premieres and revivals. In the 1980s and ’90s, Schwarz not only supported music by a new generation of composers, most memorably Deborah Drattell and Richard Danielpour, but served as a steadfast champion of overlooked (and then-unfashionable) figures such as Hovhaness, Howard Hanson and David Diamond. At the turn of the millennium, the Symphony’s “Music of Our Time” series and landmark festivals such as “Made in America” and “Bridging the 48th Parallel” cast the proverbial net further, bringing the music of Zhou Long, Levente Gyöngyösi, Tan Dun and dozens of other living composers to Seattle. 

Buddha Passion marks the grand return of composer Tan Dun (November 10 & 12, 2022). Inspired by paintings secreted for centuries in the desert-ringed Mogao Caves of Western China, this opera-oratorio retells the Buddha’s teachings through stories of the Bohdi Tree, the Deer of Nine Colors and other fantastic fables. Featuring traditional indigenous performers — Tan Weiwei, khoomei overtone singer Batubagen, pipa soloist Chen Yining — and vocal soloists, Tan Dun himself conducts the orchestra, Northwest Boychoir and the Seattle Symphony Chorale in this evening-length epic. 

Dai Fujikura’s Wavering World (February 2, 3 & 4, 2023) is a long-awaited Symphony commission delayed due to the pandemic. The London-based composer is profoundly happy to share a program with the Seventh Symphony of Jean Sibelius, declaring it “my ultimate — most favorite — symphony.” Fujikura says the last symphony of Sibelius is full of mystery, and marvels at the magical atmosphere conjured by the momentous final movement: “Those timpani rolls ... what a way to end a symphony!” But Wavering World is neither a quote-filled homage to Sibelius nor set of variations. The composer is adamant: “Because I love the Seventh, I didn’t want to quote or touch anything musically.”  

Stirred by Sibelius’ fascination with Finnish folklore, Fujikura found a deeper connection and began studying Japanese myths. “I didn’t want to write a bombastic mythical piece.” Instead, he wants to convey “the humid wetness and wonder of creation” along with “the opening up of the world and how the gods — the first three had no shape, body, or gender! — appeared.” Adding that, in Japanese mythology, the human world is described as a bed of reeds, Fujikura says that rather than chronicle a creation myth, he seeks to capture a panorama of chthonic wonder and primeval splendor. Audiences who remember the Symphony’s U.S. premiere of Umi (Japanese for “sea”) will not be surprised by the composer’s rapturously thrumming, undulating textures and elegant melodies. 

The second half of the season highlights many more Symphony commissions. Cellist Seth Parker Woods debuts Freida Abtan’s My Heart is a River, a coupling of sumptuous video and soaring, plangent lines from the cello. Abtan worked closely with Woods, whose improvisations became the basis of the music. According to the composer, spectral morphing and other audio effects “transform the sounds of the cello into physical materials such as water and skipping rocks.” An immersive video of radiant hues and mirrored symmetries helps recount a journey of friendship, adventure and discovery. (Two evening performances will be presented in Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center on February 24, 2023.)  

Commissioned by the Seattle Symphony for a cello concerto, the genre-crossing South African cellist Abel Selaocoe solos in his forthcoming (and as yet untitled) work paired with the thrilling and hallucinatory Symphonie fantastique of Hector Berlioz (April 13, 15 & 16, 2023). In addition, Han Lash, whose beguiling concerto for two harps was unveiled by the Symphony in 2021, returns with an expanded version of their song cycle Notes from Exile, rechristened The Art of Leaving (May 19, 2023, in Octave 9). 

Angelique Poteat, the Seattle Symphony’s 2022/2023 Artist in Residence and current Director of its Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop, brings the orchestra’s history of championing living composers full circle. As a budding composer, Poteat worked with stalwart Composer in Residence Samuel Jones, whose 14-year tenure (1997–2011) not only featured his music but was chiefly marked by mentoring many young composers. She remembers working with him vividly. Jones, she recalls, “stressed the importance of who I am writing for and how they are producing sound. Every note on the page is meant to be performed by human beings. This is very important to me when I am creating my music.” 

If you missed Poteat’s Breathe, Come Together, Embrace at the 2022/2023 season Opening Night Concert, it will be restaged during the first Family Concert of the season, Nature Resounds (November 5, 2022). And don’t miss her Dear Humanity (April 21, 2023), scored for youth chorus and orchestra. Poteat completed the piece with students aged 14 to 18 in a series of workshops — a fitting collaboration and musical bridge to the next generation of composers and performers. 

SPONSORS

Octave 9: Emerging Artists is supported by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. 
Ludovic Morlot’s position is generously underwritten as the Judith Fong Conductor Emeritus. 
Gerard Schwarz's position is generously underwritten as the Rebecca & Jack Benaroya Conductor Laureate. 
Abel Selaocoe’s performances and commission are generously underwritten by The Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis Living Music Program. 
Performances of Tan Dun: Buddha Passion are generously underwritten by Jeff and Rita Xiong. 
The Mogao Caves: An Immersive Experience is generously sponsored by Mimi Gardner Gates and the Dunhuang Foundation. 
Pekka Kuusisto’s performances are generously sponsored by the James D. and Sherry Raisbeck Foundation. 
2022/2023 Season Commissions are generously supported by Diana Carey, Brian and Lynn Grant, and Patricia Tall-Takacs and Gary Takacs. 
The Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop is generously underwritten by Pamela Merriman, Sonja Ross, and Kelley Ross, with additional support provided by Patricia M. Davis, Ann Holbrook, and Michel and Christine Suignard. 
The Seattle Symphony’s Family, School & Community programs are supported by 4Culture, Arakawa Foundation, Marco Argenti, The Klorfine Foundation, Merriman-Ross Family, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Maryanne Tagney, and individual contributions to the Seattle Symphony Annual Fund.