The Lancaster Arts Chamber Orchestra: Invitation to the Dance

The Lancaster Arts Chamber Orchestra makes its debut with an electrifying programme that explores how music itself ages.  Formed especially for this evening’s concert by programmer Michael Poll, this promises to be a unique opportunity to experience this new, exciting orchestra.  

Aaron Copland’s music for the ballet Appalachian Spring fuses Copland’s European training with his ‘Amerikanish’ sensibilities.  Composed nearly 70 years ago, it is paired here with a contemporary work written just three years ago by another New Yorker, the prodigy Jessie Montgomery, whose ballet Passage is a narrative about another aspect of American life: belonging and racism.  Written for similar instrumentations, the pieces are both meditations on the episodic nature of time.

A rarely heard version of Gustav Holst’s Brook Green Suite rounds out the evening. This work was written at the end of his life for the very young players of St Paul’s School where he taught, and belies both his age and physical condition at the time of its composition.

Programme includes:  
Jessie Montgomery
Passage   
Gustav Holst
Brook Green Suite   
Aaron Copland
Appalachian Spring   
Conductor: Michael Poll 

'One of the most distinctive and communicative voices in the US, as a player and a creator.'  BBC

Duration: 1hr 25 mins, including interval