What is home? That question underlies Tapestry19, the first in a series of biennial festivals curated by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra whose aim is "to explore a culturally resonant theme within our community."
If Friday evening's concert at the Ordway is anything to go by, Tapestry also aims to break the boundaries that can make classical music seem elitist to those outside looking in.
All three main works on the program were by living composers, and one was by PaviElle French, a soul artist and St. Paul native who grew up in the Rondo area.
French's "A Requiem for Zula" recalled and commemorated her mother in a 15-minute work conceived for jazz vocalist, piano and orchestra. The piece was almost impossible to categorize because it had a strong whiff of originality about it.
French herself led the premiere from the piano and sang the vocal. "Requiem" is probably best described as an extended soul ballad, with elements of blues, scat and even rap stirred into French's openhearted, confessional stream of reminiscence.
Michi Wiancko's orchestrations added further spice, with a chattering woodblock and rattling snare drum among the shots of color illustrating French's text.
The title "Requiem" might suggest a gloomy melancholia. But while French's piece had heartache in it, it glowed with emotional generosity and uplift — and the conviction that a life of love lives on in the influence that it has on other people.
Kinan Azmeh's "Don't RipEat After Me" went to darker places, namely the Syria the composer grew up in during the 1970s and '80s.