Delyana Lazarova leads ROCO in a program of premieres and rescored and reconstructed works. Photo source: ROCO/Instagram.
In last Monday’s (9/29) Ear Relevant, Lawrence Wheeler writes, “ROCO, a 40-piece chamber orchestra in Houston, continued its Season 21 with ROCO-commissioned world premieres and the Texas premiere of a recently reconstructed symphony by [18th-century composer] Emilie Mayer…. The concert was led by conductor Delyana Lazarova at Miller Outdoor Theatre … Serving as guest concertmaster was Margaret Batjer … Heather Schmidt’s newest ROCO-commissioned work, ‘Husky Chronicles,’ ‘is a tribute to resilience, loyalty, and the joy carried by these beautiful animals.’… ‘Husky Chronicles’ is written in a tonally familiar musical vernacular…. It has a cinematic quality, as if written to accompany a visual representation or film…. Lazarova led the ROCO musicians in a thoughtful and sensitive interpretation. Schmidt’s expert orchestration was well-projected in this outdoor venue … Starr Parodi’s ‘Riptide’ has a visual reference based on her personal experience of riding a riptide in Tahiti. She felt joy, elation, and terror, along with a connection with the surrounding fish as the current swept her away…. This experience informed the loss of her home in the Palisades fire of last January…. ‘Riptide’ conveys a wide range of emotions that are readily felt by the listener…. ROCO Season 21 composer-in-residence Kevin Lau has written ‘At the Still Point of the Turning World,’ a concertino for ROCO principal clarinet Nathan Williams. A collaborative effort, the work embodies the hospice and palliative care work of Williams … Williams played sensitively, skillfully projecting warmth and empathy.” Also on the program was a rescored 1984 work by Steve Vai.
