Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Music Director Gil Rose performed works by Lisa Bielawa, Lei Liang, and Andrew Norman at Carnegie Hall on April 15. Photo by Steven Pisano.
“Boston Modern Orchestra Project—known as BMOP, and led by Gil Rose—has consistently earned rave reviews, and honors including Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year award,” writes Seth Colter Walls in Monday’s (4/16) New York Times. “To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the group threw itself a party at Carnegie, with a program of music that showed off these players’ chops across a varied landscape of cutting-edge music. Each piece was having its New York premiere: a concerto for orchestra by Lisa Bielawa (mellifluous and tart, by twists and turns); a half-hour work from Lei Liang (pensive in textural moments, dramatic at climaxes); and ‘Play,’ the award-winner that put Andrew Norman on the map (unbelievably manic yet still emotionally involving)…. The title of Saturday’s concert, ‘Play It Again,’ was … a reminder that, unlike traditional orchestras—which often commission a new piece, play it once and then stuff the score in an archive—BMOP actually revisits the work it solicits and champions…. The artistic fruits of that approach were gratifyingly confirmed … sparkling contemporary music from artists who really know how to play it.”
