“The El Paso Symphony Orchestra’s October 22 and 23 concerts will pay tribute to the victims and survivors of the August 3, 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting with a world premiere piece, ‘El Paso Requiem,’ ” writes Nicole Lopez in Monday’s (10/4) KTSM-TV (El Paso, TX). “The piece, by Jorge Martin, was commissioned by Communities for Peace, a historic partnership between the El Paso Opera, El Paso Pro-Musica, EPSO, and University of Texas at El Paso’s Music Department…. ‘El Paso Requiem’ was originally intended to be performed in September 2020 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Walmart shooting. Due to the pandemic … the premiere was rescheduled to October 2021. Led by Maestro Bohuslav Rattay, ‘El Paso Requiem’ will feature the EPSO, soprano Jamille Lea, mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke, tenor Brian Downen, 65 voices from the UTEP Choral Union, and EPSO principal cellist, James Carney. In seeking to create a work that would be both honest and healing, Martin used a number of numerological devices to honor the 23 souls lost, incorporating that number throughout the music, through repetitions of phrases, sounds, or the musical structures.” The program will also include Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with pianist Dzmitry Ulasiuk.
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