“Fans of the Seattle Symphony’s new-music programming will be glad to hear that its most intriguing project is staying on course: brand-new commissioned works, each, by the orchestra’s request, ‘very loosely inspired by’ one of the seven symphonies by Jean Sibelius,” writes Gavin Borchert in Thursday’s (1/27) Seattle Times. “This series, to be presented as an ambitious, multi-season Sibelius Cycle, will present the music of some of today’s most acclaimed and active composers while providing new contexts for the older works…. The first two premieres in the series will be heard Feb. 3 and 5 and April 5 and 7…. For her commission—to be led by Ruth Reinhardt Feb. 3-5 alongside Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1—[composer Ellen] Reid drew not on Sibelius’ music itself, but on … his long composing silence, after achieving worldwide fame…. For Reid, Sibelius’ silence resonated with the hiatus forced on the arts world by the pandemic…. Composer Angélica Negrón, too, interpreted the commissioning guidelines broadly, deciding to present a piece that would complement, rather than echo, the Sibelius works on her program, scheduled for April 7 and 9 with former Seattle Symphony music director Ludovic Morlot on the podium.”
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