Premiere of Confluence by Libby Larsen
Website(s) : http://www.anciaquartet.com / http://anciasaxophonequartet.wordpress.com
A world premiere commissioned by Grammy Award winning composer Libby Larson and titled “Confluence”.
Biography
Celebrated for its artistry, virtuosity and exquisitely blended sound, ANCIA performs throughout North America, Europe and Asia, juxtaposing traditional classical music with contemporary pieces by modern composers. The group’s passion for contemporary music pervades its critically heralded CD, Short Stories (Naxos), which features the title work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. ANCIA’s debut album, Variations (TAQ), includes works by Bach and Duke Ellington as well as music composed especially for the quartet. ANCIA’s members hold degrees from Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, Indiana University, New England Conservatory of Music, St. Olaf College and Ithaca College. ANCIA is an Artist-Clinician Ensemble for the Conn-Selmer and Vandoren companies.
More information
Description of the work CONFLUENCE, from Libby Larsen:
CONFLUENCE for Saxophone Quartet
One of the major themes of my work over the past 30 years is human relationship to our natural world. From 1983 to today, I have taken every opportunity I can to compose music which moves performers and listeners to think about themselves in relation to the Earth and their responsibilities as stewards of sustainability. This body of work includes Black Roller (1981), Symphony: Water Music (1984), The Atmosphere As a Fluid System (1992), Up, Where the Air Gets Thin (1985), Missa Gaia: Mass for the Earth (1992), Downwind of Roses in Maine (2009), and Bee Navigation (2010). I am currently composing works for Nexus’ (Silent Spring) Greentopia performance and the Frye Street Quartet’s (H20) Crossroads sustainability project.
For the ANCIA saxophone quartet, I have planned a work which deals with confluences of rivers. The great and ancient confluences have sustained humanity for over 600,000 years. Now, many of the great confluences are polluted to the point of endangering humanity and all species of plants and animals which depend on water.
Confluence, is a work built of multiple distinct moments (river tributaries) which flow into a larger musical idea, eventually becoming one. Its planned duration is 12-14 minutes.
Confluences I am working with are: Three Rivers: Columbia, Yakima and Snake; Mississippi River: Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota: Strasbourg: Ill and Rhine; Chongqing, China: Jialing and Yangtze; Manaus, Brazil: Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes; Allahabad, India: Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswat; and Osijek, Croatia: Drava and Danuve.