Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra: Price, Higdon, Borodin (open dress rehearsal)
Free
- Ben Thomas, bandoneon
Florence Price — Dances in the Canebrakes (arr. William Grant Still)
Ben Thomas — Selected works (world premiere TBA; for bandoneon & orchestra)
Jennifer Higdon — blue cathedral
Alexander Borodin — In the Steppes of Central Asia
Main concert Sunday, Oct. 27 at 2pm, also at Chimacum High School.
About Ben Thomas, bandoneon
Seattle-based percussionist/bandoneonist/composer Ben Thomas started playing bandoneon in 2006, traveling to Argentina and working with tango musicians from across the world. He tours regularly with the Atlas Tango Project and can be heard on their most recent album, Estaciones y Sueños. He was a guest artist with the Eugene Opera in 2018 as the bandoneon soloist for Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires. Thomas has released five albums of original music on Origin Records, spanning jazz, chamber music, and tango. His music explores both traditional tango and how it continues to grow as it encounters new times and new influences. Following the lead of some of the pioneers of the current scene in Buenos Aires, such as Diego Schissi and Exequiel Mantega, Thomas builds pieces combining rhythmic intensity with lush harmonies, whimsy, and an emphasis on storytelling. He studied mathematics and music at Swarthmore College before going to the University of Michigan for a Master of Music in Contemporary Improvisation and the University of Washington for a DMA in Percussion Performance. Thomas has taught music theory, composition, and performance at Highline College since 2001.
http://notesbyben.com/