Orbits are at the center of tonight’s space-inspired program. It begins with acclaimed New York composer Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), an exciting, barely ten-minute piece, which takes place in the various orbits of the solar system. Here, baroque stylistic figures meet the future in a twisted soundscape with breathtaking imaginary sci-fi effects.
Then we follow the sun’s journey across the firmament in 96-year-old Thea Musgrave’s oboe concerto Helios . Musgrave’s knack for telling a story through musical means manifests itself again in this twenty-minute, sensuously dramatic work. In Greek mythology, Helios travels across the firmament in his fiery chariot before sinking into the realm of evening to travel back with the ocean currents to his golden palace in the east during the night. A process that the orchestra, in dialogue with the eminent German oboe soloist Juri Vallentin in the “role” that Helios refinedly portrays.
After a break, the orchestra plays Schuman’s life-affirming and green-blooming “spring symphony”. A perfect way to return down to earth and the earthly. At the lectern we find Norrlandsoperan’s own Eduardo Strausser.