The New Music Festival at the WSO is right around the corner, and I can’t wait. I am eager to get Polycoro in front of a large audience and find out what the reaction is. The Lozowchuk and Feldman could not be more different from a musical perspective, and will create an incredible contrast.
We recently received a commission that we’d requested from Norbert Palej. What an amazing composition, delivered well in advance. I’ve read the scores for the first time this morning and it is going to be an emotionally charged performance. He has chosen one side of the dilemma of leaving a country behind. Painful stories that we maybe don’t always consider.
I’m lucky to have people like Oleksa and Norbert, artists with stories to tell, who share them with me. They are expressing things in music that are very expressive and merit consideration and should be heard. It is current music addressing our current time.
John Wiens, Conductor 