Originally published at Seen and Heard International
Concertos for electric violin are not common, but they are becoming more so. Established American composers — such as John Adams and Terry Riley — have written concertos for the instrument, but so too have newer voices like Brett Dean. After a world premiere performance this past weekend by the Seattle Symphony, we can add Mexican composer and guitarist Enrico Chapela to this exclusive but growing list. The orchestra and Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, assisted by the composer, performed his new concerto for the instrument (Antiphaser) in Benaroya Hall. It had been co-commissioned by the Seattle Symphony which, even during its current artistic transition, has kept up an aggressive program of commissioning and performing new works.
Chapela describes Antiphaser as a cosmic thought experiment: what would someone see from the moon during an eclipse? His own eclectic musical background guides him in this endeavor to describe that which no one has witnessed. The son of a chemist and a physicist, he thought he would be a scientist as well, until he discovered the electric guitar, and music’s pull ultimately won out. Chapela pays homage to the scientific lineage in his family with compositions like Antiphaser and MAGNETAR (an earlier concerto for electric cello). But his style also draws in popular rock and metal influences with homage to the ‘masters’ whose works also expanded what was to be expected by orchestras and performers.
Continue reading Litton and Kuusisto join forces to premier Enrico Chapela’s Antiphaser
Gathering Note 