New World Symphony to offer virtual season through Dec. 31

By Lawrence Budmen

Composer John Adams will lead the New World Symphony in a streaming concert November 7. Photo: Deborah O’Grady.

The first half of the New World Symphony’s 2020-21 season will be virtual and take place entirely online through December 31 due to continuing Covid-19 restrictions. The Miami Beach training orchestra anticipates returning to live symphonic concerts after January 1, 2021.

New World will present a series of streamed performances, masterclasses and coaching sessions for NWS fellows beginning next month. Major concerts will be streamed through the IDAGIO Global Concert Hall (app.idagio.com). After the live webcast, performances will be available online for 48 hours.

The New World Percussion Consort presents an ambitious program October 10, curated by director Michael Linville. Bartok’s  Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion shares the bill of fare with Iannis Xenakis’s Okho, Tania León’s a la par, William Kraft’s Ostinatos, Lou Harrison’s Music for Harp and Percussion, and Part II of Daniel Wohl’s Replicate. A video performance of Henry Cowell’s Ostinato Pianissimo featuring both current New World fellows and alumni will also take place.

Two chamber music programs will stream on November 1 and 15. The first concert spotlights Slovenian composer Nina Šenk’s Silhouettes and Shadows and Schubert’s Octet. November 14 brings Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s Punctum, Errollyn Wallen’s Horseplay and Dvořák’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major. Shaw and Wallen will offer prerecorded introductory comments prior to the performance of their scores.

The distinguished American composer John Adams directs a performance of his Hallelujah Junction and Shaker Loops plus scores by other contemporary composers November 7. The James Ehnes Bach Project focuses on the six unaccompanied violin works of J.S. Bach. Violinist Ehnes, who has recently played and recorded these works, will coach 22 violin fellows in these landmark solo scores, culminating in a performance on December 12.

Following the cancellation of the New World’s concerts last spring, a group of NWS fellows curated a series of “Live from our Living Room” chamber programs on Friday evenings from March through June. That series will continue in an upgraded format with programs originating from New World Center and webcast on Facebook, YoutubeLive and nws.edu

Performances in that series are scheduled for October 18 and 23, November 6 and 20 and December 4 and 18. On December 19, conducting fellow Chad Goodman will host highlights from previous editions of “Sounds of the Season,” the annual holiday program. Streaming details will be announced at a later date.

New World subscribers may also attend special programs at Dezerland Park Drive-in Theater on October 17 and Hard Rock Stadium on November 14 featuring filmed highlights from previous NWS seasons. nws.edu

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One Response to “New World Symphony to offer virtual season through Dec. 31”

  1. Posted Sep 29, 2020 at 5:41 pm by sara solomon

    I look forward to this and to a return to the NWS Centre soon

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