I am thrilled to announce my New York Philharmonic performance this week, conducted by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel!! In celebration of America's 250th Birthday, I have joined a historic group of colleagues to orchestrate "The People United Will Never Be Defeated" by Frederic Rzewski.
TICKETS:
nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/
EXPLORE:
nyphil.org/explore-more/prog…
The People United Will Never Be Defeated! - the seminal work by American maverick Frederic Rzewski - comprises a theme, 36 piano variations, and coda based on Chilean composer Sergio Ortega’s El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!, a protest song against the Pinochet regime that has become a global anthem for the power of communities to effect social change.
Rzewski’s solo-piano variations were premiered at the Kennedy Center’s celebration of the US bicentennial in 1976. 50 years later - as the New York Philharmonic commemorates the US at 250 (
nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/…) - Tang Music & Artistic Director Designate Gustavo Dudamel unveils a new orchestral version of The People United… featuring Philharmonic-commissioned orchestrations of many of the Rzewski variations by 18 of today’s leading composers. “Each one brings a distinct language, shaped by different backgrounds and generations,” says Dudamel, “yet all remain deeply respectful of the spirit of Rzewski’s original vision. Together, they form a musical community that mirrors the idea behind the piece itself: that many voices, when united, can speak with extraordinary strength.”
Support for the commission of variations for The People United Will Never Be Defeated! is provided by: Allegro Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation, Myrna Chao, Arlene and Larry Dunn, Donna Weng Friedman, Jennifer Howard, Leslie Hsu and Richard Lenon, Daniel Lowen, John L. Nuechterlein, Bill Sands, and Karen Stevenson and Bill McClave.