Come see the Albany Symphony Orchestra take the classic out of classical music. If `classic` refers to traditional, old, and European, that is.
With three events in the next 10 days, which are part of the month-long American Music Festival sponsored by Key Bank, the symphony will perform no less than eight world premieres of American music with such nontraditional accoutrements as poetry, video and (gasp) amplification.
The first, on Thursday, March 22, is called `Composing from the Inside Out` and is a chance to meet two composers, Peter Childs and George Tsontakis, whose music will be played by the symphony in a concert two days later.
`It’s for anyone who’s ever been interested in how composers compose,` said ASO’s Musical Director David Alan Miller. `This is a really neat chance to climb inside the head of a living composer.`
Through a question-and-answer session with the audience, Childs and Tsontakis will talk about their process and the compositions to be performed, said Miller. After the discussion, the symphony will rehearse the pieces, during which conductor and composers will wear microphones so that the audience can watch and hear as they bring the pieces to life.
`We try to feature composers who want to and need to and believe in communicating,` said Miller. `This is a way to break down the barriers between composers and audiences even more than usual.`
`Composing from the Inside Out` will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Arts Center for the Capital Region in Troy. The rehearsal will take place at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Tickets are $20 from ASO ( 465-4755, www.albanysymphony.com).
Saturday, March 24, will bring `Casual Night at the Symphony,` which opens with two melodramas by celebrated film composer, Bernard Herrmann. Miller said the melodramas, which are spoken word with music, represent `a really old form that’s rarely explored.` The program will close with an excerpt from Hermann’s film score for the Hitchcock film `North by Northwest.`
Another narrated piece will be the world premiere of Childs’ `Down-Adown-Derry: A Fairy Suite for Orchestra and Narrator,` which was inspired by early 20th century children’s book illustrations by Albany native Dorothy Lathrop (and exhibited at the Albany Institute of History and Art).
`Peter was very touched by these drawings because they reminded him of the books he’d read as a child,` said Miller. `He created this really charming set of miniature pieces for orchestra inspired by the poems that went along with the illustrations.`
Also on the program is Tsontakis’ `Violin Concerto No. 1` featuring violinist Cho Liang Lin. Both Tsontakis and Lin hail from the Hudson Valley. The symphony will perform at 8 pm at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Tickets are $21-42 (273-0038, www.troymusichall.org).
The following week, Miller and the symphony’s new music ensemble, called Dogs of Desire, will be cramming to learn seven new pieces by young and emerging composers to get ready for a Friday, March 30 performance.
`The pieces have just begun coming in, so they’re all brand-new, out-of-the-box,` said Miller. `It’s seven really great composers writing really original and unusual pieces.`
Ken Eberhardt, who writes music for daytime TV, created a piece about karaoke and RPI professor Neil Rolnick wrote a piece that involves video.
The Dogs of Desire includes 16 members of the orchestra and two local female vocalists.
`The Dogs’ concerts are a lot of fun, with wildly alternative music experiences,` said Miller, who conducts the group.
The Dogs of Desire concert will be at 8 p.m. at the WMHT Television Studio in East Greenbush. Tickets are $25 and available from the Palace Theatre (465-4663, www.palacealbany.com) or Ticketmaster (476-1000, www.ticketmaster.com). “