Nadia Sirota / Photo by Samantha West
It felt like being down in Greenwich Village Thursday night. Except we were at Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. The funky little space was jammed for a program of new classical music by New York composers and musicians who were in town to celebrate the world premiere of Judd Greenstein's full-length symphony "Acadia."
Just to be clear, that work will be performed tonight and Saturday night by the full Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall. The event Thursday was, as violist Nadia Sirota told the crowd, "Just a chance for us to come to Minneapolis and celebrate with Judd."
Greenstein watched mostly, getting up at one point just to thank the crowd for coming and professing his fondness for the Minnesota Twins. Privately, he admitted he's a Yankees fan, but he grew up in New York so he has every right. Besides, he said, the Twins were his second-favorite team because they won the World Series twice when he was growing up. Very impressive.
Sirota played a couple of pieces by composer Nico Muhly, the better of which was "Drones and Viola." She was joined on that by pianist Michael Mizrahi, who noted that he was the only one who "drove here." He lives in Appleton, Wis., now. Mizrahi also performed piano works by Greenstein, Ryan Brown and William Brittelle. And Brittelle played a few selections, on which Sirota backed him up.
The biggest piece unveiled last night was "The Night Gatherers" by Greenstein. It featured a string quintet with Sirota being joined by Minnesota Orchestra musicians Sam Bergman, Peter McGuire, Ken Freed and Eugena Chang. After being congratulated on the performance afterward, Bergman said "it was pretty good for 65 minutes of practice."
Bergman will be one of the hosts tonight for the Inside the Classic Series at Orchestra Hall. He and conductor Sarah Hicks will talk with Greenstein on stage about the composition of "Acadia." After intermission, the full orchestra will perform the piece.Information here.
