Chicago Composers Orchestra: idioms | electric
$35-$45 ($15-$25 student)
- D.J. Sparr, electric guitar
- Maria Clark, soprano
D.J. Sparr — Selected works (world premiere TBA; Maria Clark, soprano)
Molly Jones — Selected works
A charged performance of Daron Hagen's Film Noir: Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra featuring soloist D.J. Sparr, electric guitar, a world premiere by D.J. Sparr featuring soloist Maria Clark, soprano, and work by Molly Jones.
Tickets will also be sold at the door. Masks optional.
About Chicago Composers Orchestra
Hailed as "…an energized, risk-taking orchestra that advocates for contemporary music in such a way as to make composers, performers, and listeners feel part of the same engaged community" (Chicago Tribune), the Chicago Composers Orchestra is one very few orchestras to be solely devoted to contemporary music. The orchestra's mission is to present music by living composers, and to extend the orchestral tradition to be open, vibrant, and diverse, and to speak to our lives today.
https://www.chicagocomposersorchestra.orgAbout D.J. Sparr, electric guitar
Composer and electric guitarist D.J. Sparr, who Gramophone recently hailed as "exemplary," is one of America's preeminent composer-performers. He has caught the attention of critics with his eclectic style, described as "pop-Romantic…iridescent and wondrous" (The Mercury News) and "suits the boundary erasing spirit of today's new-music world" (The New York Times). The Los Angeles Times praises him as "an excellent soloist," and the Santa Cruz Sentinel says that he "wowed an enthusiastic audience…Sparr's guitar sang in a near-human voice."
He was the electric guitar concerto soloist on a 2018 Grammy Award-winning album with JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2011, Sparr was named one of NPR listener's favorite 100 composers under the age 40. He has composed for and performed with renowned ensembles such as the Houston Grand Opera, Cabrillo Festival, New World Symphony, Washington National Opera, and Eighth Blackbird. His music has received awards from BMI, New Music USA, and the League of Composers/ISCM. Sparr is a faculty member at the famed Walden School's Creative Musicians Retreat in Dublin, New Hampshire. His works and guitar performances appear on Naxos, Innova Recordings, and Centaur Records.
D. J. lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his wife Kimberly, son Harris, Nannette the hound dog, and Bundini the boxer. D. J. Sparr's music is published by Bill Holab Music.
https://www.djsparr.comAbout Maria Clark, soprano
Soprano, Maria Clark, has been acclaimed for her virtuosic skills of expressive singing across the idioms of Opera, Oratorio, and Art Song, and has been critiqued as possessing “The Voice of An Angel”. One of the most important aspects of her vocal abilities is her superb control of a very large instrument, all the while presenting a beautiful, rich, and layered voice.
http://music.emory.edu/home/people/biography/clark-maria.html