KC Symphony to play concerto’s world premiere

Three Jewish classical musicians at the height of their powers will come together here next weekend for the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony.

Music Director Michael Stern will conduct, Israeli-born pianist Alon Goldstein will be the featured soloist and Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman will be in the house as Dorman’s new work, “Lost Souls — A Piano Concerto” has its world premiere. (See below for details.)

In fact, they will be in town all week, rehearsing.

Dorman, just 34, is said to be one of the classical music world’s hottest young composers right now, with two of his other recent works having been debuted last season by the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. Incidentally, Dorman is married to a Kansas City-area native, Jenny Sherman.

Having spoken to Dorman, Stern and Goldstein, it’s still hard to tell exactly which came first — the chicken or the egg, as it were. Dorman said that Goldstein’s playing inspired him, and that they decided to collaborate on the piece. Dorman indicated that only later did they seek an entity to commission the work, and that Stern was the first to jump at the chance on behalf of the KC Symphony. In any case, next weekend’s premiere is a product of the trio’s mutual-admiration society.

“He (Stern) essentially wanted the piece very much,” Dorman said, “so he got the Kansas City Symphony to sponsor a big chunk of commission fee. He also brought in the Seattle Commissioning Fund. But as for the person who lit the first match, Alon (Goldstein) would be guilty.”

Dorman — like many of the nation’s critics — loves Goldstein’s playing.

“He seems like he is from a different era — the way he carries himself, his mannerisms — it seems like he was born and lived in the 19th century,” Dorman said.

A ghost from the grave
Goldstein said he has been playing another Dorman piece —– his Second Sonata — for a couple of years now as an encore.

“I joke with him ‘Avner, this is dangerous music,’ ” Goldstein said. “It’s extremely intricate, very complex. And yet it comes across when you hear it; you want to swing, to dance. People say to me, ‘This is really cool,’ which is not normally a word we associate with classical music, which is why Avner has so young people in his audiences.”

Goldstein said “Lost Souls” recalls other great piano concerti of the past.

Goldstein said he and Dorman discussed the fact that “the piano concerto is a 19th-century phenomenon, even late 18th century, instead of the 20th or 21st century.”

“The whole concept — of Brahms and Schumann and Chopin and Liszt — this is all 19th century. I said I would like to do a concerto … to bring a ghost from the grave to make a musical séance; to bring a ghost from the past into the future and bring to life this whole genre,” Goldstein said.

“If you think about it, the last piano concerto we can consider part of the repertoire is Bartok No. 3. Many were written in the last 50 years, but you cannot consider them repertoire — at least not yet.

“There were so many great composers, but maybe there is something about the genre that does not belong anymore. This piece asks can there be another piano concerto, or is this dead? So they bring the ghost — how, I am not telling you — but the ghost is gonna come from the past … he is going to enjoy the present, go to the mall, flip channels on TV. So through the course of the piece, there is a realization that this ghost that they brought, they don’t want it anymore. So there is an exorcism, this huge tour to de force, trying to drive away the ghost. ….

“As I am telling you the story, I have a huge smile on my face. …  I don’t want to give away the incredible surprises that are there. But it’s something we can all immediately identify with.

“It’s part of Avner’s natural understanding of the time we live in and the immediacy there is in this world today. He is getting his results on this level of, on the one hand, immediacy, and, on the other hand, incredible artistry. It’s masterful in the way it’s conceived and how it unfolds. The orchestra will have a blast.”
Stern thinks so, too.

“It’s a very exciting thing to help bring a new piece of art into the world,” Stern said. “When you have an artist who has a singular point of view — a statement to make — it’s exciting to partner with that. After all, a score is only alive when it’s being played.”

Stern said the commissioning of new works is an important role for the Symphony to play.

“Our caretaking status, in terms of keeping the art form alive and making sure we are good ambassadors for the great music of the past, is informed by our service to music of our times,” Stern said. “It makes us better musicians, more relevant musicians, today.”

New work debuts next weekend
Michael Stern will lead the Kansas City Symphony in concert at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21, at the Lyric Theatre, 1029 Central St., and again at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, at Yardley Hall on the Johnson County Community College campus. In addition to Avner Dorman’s piano concerto, the program features works by Sibelius and Bartok. “Concert Comments,” a pre-concert discussion led by Stern, will take place one hour before concert time at each location.

Tickets are available by calling the Symphony Box Office, (816) 471-0400, or online at www.kcsymphony.org.

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