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Programme Note

Digital perusal score available from SchirmerOnDemand

Premiere:
September 8, 2010
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Gerard Schwarz, conductor
Seattle, WA

Related Works:
   Of Paradise and Light for string orchestra
   Of Paradise and Light for cello ensemble

Note:
The work on tonight’s program, Of Paradise and Light, is a world premiere orchestral transcription of Read Thomas’ 2008 setting of e e cummings’ poem, (kiss me), for girls’ chorus. Thomas describes this new version as a work loosely in the tradition of Barber’s Adagio for Strings: one which draws on the subtle and nuanced colors of the Orchestra’s string sections to create a soulful work of reflection, “as though a sliver of paradise and light came down to shine upon a garden of colorful flowers.”

PROGRAM NOTE copyright © Seattle Symphony