First published in the May 5 print issue of the Pasadena Outlook.
Led by music director Jaime Martín, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will wrap up its 2021-22 season with the LACO-commissioned world premiere of “Floodplain” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, LACO’s creative advisor and 2017-18 sound investment composer.
This marks her first collaboration with Martín.
LACO will present its season finale performances at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa; at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at Ambassador Auditorium, 131 S. St. John Ave., Pasadena; and at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Court.
Reid is a composer and sound artist whose breadth of work spans opera, sound design, film scoring as well as ensemble and choral writing. Reid was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in music for her opera, “p r i s m.”
“’Floodplain’ implies both rich fertility and possible danger,” said Reid of her new work and that it includes “rhythmic motifs that echo throughout the piece and transform in a variety of ways.”
Reid began the piece before the pandemic, and it was originally slated to premiere in May 2020. She has subsequently “(broken it into) pieces and reshaped it so it felt resonant to me in this moment.”
Martín said, “For a number of years, LACO has enjoyed a very special association with Ellen Reid, who is one of the foremost composers of her generation. I am so pleased to be able to bring her new work ‘Floodplain’ to life and share it with audiences across Southern California. It is also a distinct pleasure for LACO to showcase two of its own exceptional principal artists — concertmaster Margaret Batjer and principal (cellist)Andrew Shulman — on Brahms’ ‘Double Concerto for Violin and Violoncello,’ in which the two solo instruments share a musical conversation like old friends.”
The program also includes Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5 in C minor,” considered a cornerstone of classical music.
Tickets start at $29 and may be purchased online at laco.org or by calling LACO at (213) 622-7001, ext. 1. Discounted tickets are also available by phone for seniors 65 years old and older and for students.
