World Premiere! Two of Them.

Last night I heard the world premiere of two pieces of music. We attended a concert of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra at Mandel Hall, University of Chicago. On the program was an assortment of modern and classic numbers which included the premiere of Rauch by Jake Bancks and Celestial Dance by Alex Berezowsky. Both composers are doctoral students at the University of Chicago. I found the Berezowsky piece interesting, but I loved the work by Bancks. Rauch is Hebrew for wind, and the piece gave me the impression of various "styles" of wind. It was sort of a tone poem, a little like Grand Canyon Suite by Grofe, which was popular when I was growing up in the 50's.
Jake Bancks is a friend of my son's from the Eastman School of Music. He is also writing a new piece which was commissioned by the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music and will be premiered at Tanglewood on August 10 of this year. I was very honored to be at the premiere of two pieces of contemporary music--especially since they were played by a well known and well respected orchestra.