RTSH concert: March 21st

Our concert date with the Albanian Radio-Television Orchestra has been confirmed for March 21st, at 7pm (click on the image below for more details).

Orkestra Simfonike e RTSH
Bujar Llapaj, conductor
Oliver de Clercq, guest horn soloist*

Programme:

Tides- Elizabeth Knudson (world premiere)
Horn Concerto No. 1*- Richard Strauss

Mosaic- concerto for horn*- Elizabeth Knudson
Capriccio espagnol- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Premiere in Albania, March 2013!

Here is the big news I've been waiting to share: I will be traveling to Albania (Europe) again, towards the end of March, with Oliver de Clercq (principal horn, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra) for a very special performance.

Maestro Bujar Llapaj

The Orkestra Simfonike e RTSH (Albanian Radio-Television Orchestra), under the direction of Maestro Bujar Llapaj, will be giving the world premiere of my new orchestra work, 'Tides', as well as performing my horn concerto, 'Mosaic', with Oliver de Clercq as guest soloist.  Mr. de Clercq will also be performing R. Strauss' Horn Concerto No. 1.

Oliver de Clercq, horn

More details will come soon, as our travel plans unfold.  We are all very excited and look forward to sharing this adventure!

Composer Elizabeth Knudson, outside the castle in Gjirokaster, Albania (July 2012)

Currently...

Sleep should come a little more easily this week, since the draft of my new orchestra work, Tides, is  complete!  Now for a couple of weeks' work of editing and copying orchestra parts... and the excitement of planning a trip to go hear the world premiere this spring!  A premiere announcement will be coming soon...

Tides

for full orchestra 
(programme notes)

"But the sea, the sea in darkness calls; 

The little waves, with their soft white hands 

Efface the footprints in the sands, 

And the tide rises, the tide falls."  

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tides was conceived after visiting Albania and Macedonia on tour, as a member of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra, in summer 2012.  The rugged beauty and colourful spirit of the Balkans fascinated me.  This piece grew out of contemplating the continuity of time, and also the idea of an ancient land, where tides (both literal and metaphorical) have been changing and shaping its unique character for centuries.  Precise, dancing rhythms inspired by Balkan folk music permeate the piece, contrasted with a fluid sense of motion and freedom.

Along the beach at Sarande, Albania- July 2012
(photo- Elizabeth Knudson)

New Year, new adventures...

As plans for the new year unfold, it looks like a very exciting time ahead.  I am busily working on a new piece for full orchestra, for premiere this coming March.  If all goes to plan, it sounds like there are some adventures in the works!  A couple of different trips in 2013 (that I'm aware of) to go hear my compositions performed outside my home base of Vancouver, Canada.  Both performances will be outside of Canada... but I'll leave it at that for now, with more details to come soon.

Inspired by an amazing orchestra tour I was fortunate to be part of last summer (when the West Coast Symphony Orchestra toured Albania and Macedonia), I've decided that a travel blog would be a fun way to document any upcoming composing-related travels, as well as a means of keeping in touch with family and friends when I'm away.  If you check back to this blog, you can expect to see some photos and writing about these adventures to come...

Wishing you a healthy, successful, and music-filled year ahead!

-Elizabeth