“When Courtney Bryan was a child growing up in New Orleans, her parents brought her to performances by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra,” writes Dean M. Shapiro in Saturday’s (11/16) NOLA.com (New Orleans). “Little did she know that, more than 20 years later, the LPO would be premiering a work that the orchestra commissioned from her. Bryan’s 12-minute piece titled ‘Rejoice’ will have its world premiere … this weekend…. The piece will lead off the program, followed by Hector Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été … and Mozart’s Requiem. LPO Music Director Carlos Miguel Prieto will conduct … ‘This commission means a lot to me in a lot of ways,’ said Bryan…. The LPO was the first orchestra she ever heard, and it has performed other works of hers, but this is her first commissioned piece [for] them…. The work, Bryan explained, was inspired by passages in the New Testament … that extol the virtues of forgiveness and thankfulness for blessings … Composed for a full orchestra, the piece has no lyrics but Bryan noted that ‘the melodies and the rhythms of the melodies are basically like the words from the Bible.’ ” Bryan’s Rejoice was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
Posted November 22, 2019
