Across Oceans: APERIO, Music of the Americas Performs Music by Thomas Osborne
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APERIO, Music of the Americas, in partnership with Asia Society Texas Center, proudly presents Across Oceans, a concert featuring vocal, solo, and chamber music by composer Thomas Osborne. Inspired by influences drawn from ancient Japanese court music and poetry, Javanese gamelan, and the power of the Pacific Ocean, Thomas Osborne’s music is striking for its sensitive exploration of the possibilities of both Western and non-Western music.
This concert features three recent works by Osborne that were commissioned by Aperio artists between 2004 and 2012. In the two large-scale vocal cycles Songs of a Thousand Autumns and Dreams of Sky and Sea, Osborne draws inspiration from ancient, Asian literary and musical traditions. The poetry of Japanese court poets Sei Shonagon, Ono no Komachi, and Korean modern master Kim Sowol are set to accompaniments that capture the unique timbres of Asian folk music by means of innovative performance techniques on Western instruments. Two instrumental works will complement the vocal cycles; Like Still Water, for percussion and piano and Osborne’s sweeping virtuosic tone poem for solo piano entitled And the waves Sing Because They Are Moving.
Presented as a whole, this program reveals a brilliant blend of virtuosity with poetic depth, achieved through Osborne’s personal experiences and deep love of Asian cultures and history.
Program
Thomas Osborne
Songs of a Thousand Autumns for soprano, violin, viola, cello, and piano
Dreams of Sky and Sea for soprano, percussion, and piano
And the Waves Sing Because they Are Moving for solo piano
Like Still Water for percussion and piano
Performers
Tracy Rhodus Satterfield, soprano
Andres Gonzalez, violin
Suzanne LeFevre, viola
Patrick Moore, cello
Craig Hauschildt, percussion
Jason Hardink, piano
Kimi Kawashima, piano
Michael Zuraw, piano
Supported by The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Arts Alliance, City of Houston, The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, Bank of America, and United Airlines – Official Airline of Asia Society Texas Center.