Bright Sheng's "Of Time and Love" Debuts This Weekend with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra

The Curtis Symphony Orchestra’s 2022–23 season continues this Sunday, January 29, 2023, at 2 p.m. with “Perry, Tchaikovsky, and Sheng” in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, under the baton of Emmy Award-winning, GRAMMY-nominated conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya (’91) and first-year student Micah Gleason, Curtis’s Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow.

The concert includes the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor, and pianist Bright Sheng‘s Of Time and Love, a thrilling new concerto for viola and orchestra featuring the virtuosity of internationally acclaimed violist Roberto Díaz (’84), president of Curtis. An additional performance takes place in Alumnae Hall at Immaculata University on Saturday, January 28, at 2 p.m.

Learn more about “Perry, Tchaikovsky, and Sheng” HERE.

Bright Sheng Discusses Of Time and Love
Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
《不朽之爱》中提琴协奏曲

Of Time and Love, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, is commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music for the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Roberto Díaz, with support from Bridget Baird, Brenda Baird Senturia, Robert B Downing and the Downing Family Foundation in cooperation with the Apollo Orchestra, and Allen R. and Judy Brick Freedman. Co-commissioned with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra of China.

This piece, completed in 2022, is orchestrated for two flutes (second doubles piccolo), two oboes (second doubles English horn), two clarinets in Bb (second doubles bass clarinet), two bassoons (second doubles contrabassoon), four French horns, two trumpets, two tenor trombones, one bass trombone, harp, timpani, three percussionists (playing slapsticks, a set of four wood blocks, small suspended cymbal, small triangle, guiro, large tam-tam, large bass drum, glockenspiel, vibraphone), and strings.

A preview performance was given on October 30, 2022, by the Apollo Orchestra conducted by David Neely in Washington D.C.; world premiere performance was given on January 29, 2023, conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, at Verizon Hall of Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Roberto Díaz, to whom the work is dedicated, is the soloist for both performances.

“I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the viola, particularly for its variety of characters, from the sweet, lyrical to the rough and dramatic. The work is also inspired by the fine musicianship of Roberto Díaz, an artist who is both virtuosic and exceptionally musical. I was happy to have the opportunity to write a viola concerto—I made sure the instrument would express the range of traits and, the solo part would sing mostly throughout the composition.

“The work was written during the thick of the pandemic, which reset everyone’s complacency. When human life becomes fragile, only love is timeless.” —Bright Sheng

Visit Bright Sheng‘s official website HERE.

CURTIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Perry, Tchaikovsky, and Sheng

Saturday, January 28, 2023, at 2 p.m.
Alumnae Hall, Immaculata University, 1145 King Road, Immaculata, Pa.

Sunday, January 29, 2023, at 2 p.m.
Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor
Micah Gleason, Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow

PROGRAM

Tickets
Immaculata single tickets: $19, sold by Curtis Patron Services at Curtis.edu/Performances, or (215) 893-7902.

Philadelphia single tickets: $19–55, sold by the Kimmel Center Box Office at KimmelCulturalCampus.org, or (215) 893-1999.

Photo credits: 1.) Bright Sheng by Angelo Merendino. 2.) Image of Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Roberto Díaz with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra by Patricia K. Johnson. 3.) Composer Bright Sheng; courtesy of the artist. 4.) Image of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra rehearsing Of Love and Time with Maestro Harth-Bedoya and Roberto Díaz by Bailey Spiteri.