Beauty is found in repetition and chaos, movement and stillness, in Missy Mazzoli’s Still Life with Avalanche. Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint plucks rhythmic patterns from everyday life, with a transfixing impression of New York’s restless heartbeat, while Kaija Saariaho enters a haunting and dreamlike state with Light and Matter. A new work by Samantha Wolf explores our connection with reality TV and examines our crazy lives in a bouquet of fresh sonorities.

To close the program, we’re thrilled to present a world premiere by Paul Dean. His new work the weight we carry was composed especially for the sextet, commissioned by Mark Wakely as the 2023 Steven Alward Memorial Music Commission. Taking inspiration from Allen Ginsberg’s poem Song, Dean’s work expresses the importance, burden and desperation of love.

By altering the conceptual lens and shifting our musical focus, each work in Still Life with Avalanche presents a surprising change of perspective. A mind-opening experience.