World Premiere of Quilting by Bryce Dessner performed by LA Philharmonic

World Premiere of Quilting by Bryce Dessner performed by LA Philharmonic
© Shervin Lainez
Quilting, Bryce Dessner's most substantial orchestral work to date will be premiered on May 28 by the LA Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel as part of 'Next On Grand', a festival of music and dance by contemporary Americans. The new piece will be performed alongside a new Concerto for Two Pianos by Philip Glass and Ritornello 2.3 by Caroline Shaw and it also receives a subsequent performance on May 30.
Co-commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Quilting is a 17 minute piece, loosely inspired by the American tradition of quilt making.

Dessner began thinking about the manuscript itself as an object, its vertical and horizontal planes creating a kind of geometry of their own. Visually the way a musical score is woven together like patchwork brought to mind quilts and Dessner imagined how conducting an orchestra can feel like stitching a piece together, or sewing together a large number of musical ideas and musicians into a coherent and transcendent whole. He also became fascinated by how the patchwork patterns told stories of the women and communities who made them and how the names of the quilt patterns themselves can have their own sense of narrative  'Jacobs Ladder', 'Drunkards Path', 'Solomon's Puzzle', and (Dessner's favorite for its relevance to this piece) 'The Road to California.'

Performance Details

Date: May 28, 2015 | 8:00pm
Performers: LA Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel
Venue: Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA
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Date: May 30, 2015 | 8:00pm
Performers: LA Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel
Venue: Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA
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Date: September 25, 2015
Performers: Philharmonie Zuidnederland
Venue: Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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Date: April 21, 2016
Performers: BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joshua Weilerstein
Venue: Barbican Centre, London
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