Greenville Symphony spotlights new American works, including world premiere

The Greenville Symphony’s next program is a rarity in the classical concert hall – four orchestral works written in just the past few years, including a world premiere.

The program, “The Last Five Years: American Music Now,” will be presented March 28-29 in the Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre.

Seth Russell, the orchestra’s principal cellist, will be featured in the centerpiece of the program, Lembit Beecher’s 2021 cello concerto, “Tell Me Again,” a virtuosic piece that reflects on the immigrant experience.

Receiving its world premiere, meanwhile, is Ivan Enrique Rodriguez’s “The Western Gospel,” a work that draws on past musical ideas and moves through “moments of warmth, grandeur, and reassurance,” the composer has said.

“These are all pieces by composers who are living and creating today,” said the orchestra’s music director Lee Mills, who will occupy the podium. “We work in a living art form even as we often feature composers from 250 years ago.”

The American Season

The four works are an important part of “The American Season,” Mills said.

“They’re very emotive pieces, I think the audience will find them exhilarating,” Mills said. “The season would not tell the complete story of American music without relating the story of what’s happening now.”

Opening the concert is Clarice Assad’s “Circus Fantasia,” a vibrant 2023 work that explores the wonder, nostalgia, and kinetic energy of the circus.

Katherine Balch’s “music for young water that danced beneath my feet,” written in 2021, reflects the delicate, shimmering textures of the natural world.

“It’s a really beautiful piece of music, inspired by her time hiking in the mountains,” Mills said of Balch’s piece. “She’s a fantastic composer. Her music has been played by orchestras all around the world.”

Rodriguez, the composer of “The Western Gospel,” will be in town to work with Mills and the orchestra in preparation for the world premiere.

Balch, an assistant professor of composition at Yale University, will join Mills, Russell and composers Sam Hunter and Anthony Bernarducci to discuss emerging trends and cultural forces shaping today’s compositions at 1 p.m. on March 27 in the Gunter Theatre. The discussion is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Call 864-232-0344 or visit greenvillesymphony.org for more information.