Composer Sarah Gibson.
“The Sarasota Orchestra has some special ingredients for its final Masterworks season concert,” on March 31 and April 1 and 2, writes Jay Handelman in (3/26) Sunday’s Sarasota Herald Tribune (FL). “They include guest conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto returning for the first time in eight years, famed violinist Gil Shaham performing Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, Richard Strauss’ tone poem ‘Ein Heldenleben’ and something new: the world premiere of a new composition by Sarah Gibson [called] ‘to make this mountain taller.’ The composer said the title comes from a poem by Canadian poet Rupi Kaur called ‘Legacy’ … In the case of her newest work—a commission by the League of American Orchestras with support from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation—she found inspiration in a sculpture by the late French artist Aristide Maillol at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California…. As part of the commission, four more orchestras will present Gibson’s piece after the Sarasota performances, including November concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. ‘Writing an orchestra piece is such a gift and to be able to have a secured premiere and four more orchestras to perform it after is just wonderful,’ she said.”
