Tuning Meditation, a copresentation of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series and Walker Art Center’s Out There Festival on January 19 is canceled due to violinist Pekka Kuusisto’s arm injury.
Kuusisto will continue to lead additional SPCO performances January 11-20 as conductor and director, but will no longer play violin.
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra regrets to announce that due to an arm injury, violinist and Artistic Partner Pekka Kuusisto is unable to play his violin for several upcoming engagements. Kuusisto will still lead performances with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as conductor and director January 11-20 but will not play violin on either program. The music on these two programs is unchanged and another violinist, to be announced, will replace Pekka as violin soloist on Guardian of the Horizon by Jimmy López.
Unfortunately, Kuusisto’s Tuning Meditation performance at the Walker Art Center as part of the SPCO’s Liquid Music Series and Walker’s Out There Festival on Saturday, January 19 has been canceled. The SPCO and the Walker look forward to copresenting a project with Pekka in a future season. This was a free, general admission event, with no ticket reservations available in advance, so no action is necessary on the part of ticket holders.
PROGRAMS AFFECTED:
Improvisations with Pekka Kuusisto and Tyshawn Sorey
Friday, January 11, 11:00am
Friday, January 11, 8:00pm
Saturday, January 12, 8:00pm
Ordway Concert Hall, Saint Paul
Beethoven: Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus
Iyer: Asunder (Midwest premiere, SPCO co-commission)
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin
Sorey: Autoschediasms (Improvisation, world premiere)
Pekka Kuusisto, director (Kuusisto will direct but will no longer play violin)
Tyshawn Sorey, conductor
This program brings together three of the most brilliant and creative voices in the music world today: Pekka Kuusisto, Tyshawn Sorey and Vijay Iyer. Kuusisto leads the SPCO in core repertoire by Beethoven and Ravel, as well as the Midwest premiere of an SPCO co-commission by Iyer, a jazz pianist of limitless range who is becoming increasingly known for his classical compositions. Sorey leads his new work Autoschediasms, a conducted improvisation in which his gestural cues elicit musical responses from the SPCO musicians.
Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony with Pekka Kuusisto
Thursday, January 17, 7:30pm
Temple Israel, Minneapolis
Friday, January 18, 11:00am
Friday, January 18, 8:00pm
Wooddale Church, Eden Prairie
Sunday, January 20, 3:00pm
Saint Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Mahtomedi
Beethoven: Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus
Mazzoli: You Know Me From Here
López: Guardian of the Horizon
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Pekka Kuusisto, director (Kuusisto will direct but will no longer play violin)
Julie Albers, cello
Works by Beethoven frame this program that features Missy Mazzoli’s quartet, You Know Me From Here, in a new arrangement for full strings by Artistic Partner Pekka Kuusisto and the SPCO. Mazzoli described the work as a “musical journey homeward, a trek through chaos and loneliness to a place of security and companionship.” The program also includes Guardian of the Horizon by Peruvian-born, Finnish-trained, American-based composer Jimmy López, a concerto grosso written in loving memory of his father.
SPCO Contact:
Lindsey Hansen
651.292.6984
lhansen@spcomail.org
Pekka Kuusisto: Tuning Meditation – CANCELED
Copresented with Walker Art Center
Saturday, January 19, 3:00pm
Walker Art Center Gallery 3, Minneapolis
“Supple, lyrical, virtuosic and intensely personal” (The Globe and Mail) SPCO Artistic Partner and violinist Pekka Kuusisto brings his craft to the Walker Art Center galleries for a rare solo performance inspired by themes of I am you, you are too, an exhibit that explores contemporary life through themes of citizenship, belonging, borders and barriers. Kuusisto will lead the audience in Pauline Oliveros’ Tuning Meditation, part of a series of works written to provide healing in response to the political chaos of the late 1960s. This interactive performance invites participants to engage in listening as an act of peaceful activism in our own tumultuous political climate. Further exploration of the exhibit’s themes will be presented through a set of virtual duos in which Kuusisto will be joined via video projections and sound recordings by international artist-collaborators who collaborate across time and space in the face of new U.S. immigration restrictions.
Walker Art Center Contact:
Rachel Joyce
612.375.7635
rachel.joyce@walkerart.org
Online Press Room:
walkerart.org/press-releases
Twitter:
WalkerArtMedia