New Century Chamber Orchestra, a relatively small ensemble, goes absolutely big and bold when it comes to advocacy of new music. Among its many accomplishments is the commissioning and recording of important works. New Century will now issue its seventh CD, From A to Z, four premiere recordings of commissioned violin concertos, each featuring NCCO Music Director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg as soloist.
The A and Z are Clarice Assad and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The other two concertos are by William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty.
Assad's work is Dreamscapes, Bolcom's is Romanza; Daugherty's concerto is called Fallingwater, and Zwilich's is Commedia dell’Arte.
Salerno-Sonnenberg says:
One of the first actions I took in my new post, and one which I am most proud of, was to create New Century’s Featured Composer program, which centers around new music by some of the world’s most established composers, most promising and talented young composers, and even composers who reach outside the realm of classical music. It has been an honor to work with these incredible musical minds and to learn from them as well.Lera Auerbach and Mark O’Connor have written music for New Century ... and William Bolcom, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Clarice Assad, and Michael Daugherty have written violin concertos for me and New Century. I have enjoyed long and successful collaborations with William Bolcom and Clarice Assad, so it was incredibly satisfying for me to introduce them into the New Century family.
Equally satisfying are my new relationships with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Michael Daugherty, who composed for me as if they had known me for many years. My admiration and respect for the combined talents of these composers is endless and my gratitude is heartfelt. Their works, commissioned by New Century, add not only to the violin repertoire but to the chamber music cannon, and string chamber orchestra repertoire in particular, which is so important and in my opinion, necessary.
A micro-review by SFCV's Jeff Dunn: "I find Assad’s and Daugherty’s concertos, while hardly profound, to be irresistibly attractive — a pleasure to listen to."