MCO’s ‘Tour de Force’ features the World Premiere of 'Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra'
"The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (MCO) celebrates its own when it presents its next cheekily titled concert, Tour de Force, on Tuesday, March 19, before taking the show on the road with two performances in Halifax and Fredericton, N.B., on March 22 and 23, respectively.
The program, led by Anne Manson, features two world premieres as the latest installment in the orchestra’s ongoing New Concerto Project, which has also included works by Winnipeg’s David Raphael Scott and Heidi Ouellette, as well as American composer Philip Glass’s third piano concerto presented last year.
First up is Juno Award-winning composer Vivian Fung’s Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra, showcasing MCO concertmaster Karl Stobbe and Okanagan Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Rachel Kristenson, who frequently moonlights as principal second violin with the MCO.
Theduo will perform the Edmonton-born composer’s one-movement, 15-minutework inspired by the tightly interlocked rhythms of Balinese gamelanmusic. Fung, whose work is often infused with strong multiculturalinfluences, is a former member and composer for critically acclaimed NewYork City-based group Gamelan Dharma Swara. She has competed with thetraditional Indonesian percussion ensemble at the Bali Arts Festival inwhat she describes as a "battle of the gamelans."
Otherglobal travels for her art have taken her to Vietnam and Spain, as wellas Cambodia, where, with her husband and three-year-old toddler, sheconducted research for a new opera last month.
"There’sa concept in gamelan music where two instruments play complementaryrhythms or melodies that form two halves of a whole," Fung says over thetelephone from California, where she teaches at Santa Clara University.
"But my new work also has a huge chorale at the end that pays homage to baroque music, including the violin concerti that were born in that era, with Bach being a prime example of that," she says of her East-meets-West composition, which also marks her first double concerto."
by Holly Harris