Joan Tower
Petroushskates
from 7 August 2024, Musikhuset København
program notes
Joan Tower (b. 1938) is well into the sixth decade of a monumental career in music. After a childhood playing percussion and dancing in the streets of Bolivia, her compositions gained acclaim in the 1960’s for their distinctive incorporation of jazz and American folk. Tower is a strong advocate for diversity in classical music and started her own festivals as early as the 1980’s to promote works by women. Today she teaches in New York and holds a reputation as one of America’s greatest composers.
Tower says about her piece Petrouchskates: “The title […] combines two ideas that are related to this piece. One refers to Stravinsky’s Petrushka and the opening Shrovetide Fair scene which is very similar to the opening of my piece. The celebratory character and the busy colorful atmosphere of this fair provides one of the images for this piece. The other is associated with ice skating and the basic kind of flowing motion that is inherent to that sport. While watching the figure skating event at the recent winter Olympics, I became fascinated with the way the curving, twirling, and jumping figures are woven around a singular continuous flowing action. Combining these two ideas creates a kind of carnival on ice—a possible subtitle for this piece.”
concert details
”Equinox 1”
7 August 2024, 19:30
Musikhuset København
Program:
Aleksandra Vrebalov: My Desert, My Rose (with choreography by Isabella Carroll and Mathieu Rouaux)
Joan Tower: Petroushsksates
Laura Valborg Aulin: String Quartet in E-Minor
Bohuslav Martinu: Sextet for Piano and Winds
Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano Quintet no. 2
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