The music begins abruptly, jolting the lawn crowd at Millennium Park out of their reveries. They look up to see a huge globe filling the screen, spinning quickly to the dramatic, pulsing music from the orchestra below. Christopher Theofanidis' new work, The Legend of the Northern Lights, has begun. Hang on, because it's a wild ride.
Conductor Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra expertly navigated this virtuosic work on Saturday night, bringing a crystal clarity to even the most demanding passages. This outstanding new work was also performed on Friday night as part of the Grant Park Music Festival, and the two performances constituted its world premiere.
The multimedia work tells a story about the Northern Lights through music, video and narration, all of which came together beautifully in service of the story on Saturday night.
The narrator, played by Frank Babbitt, describes the snowy landscape of the Northern Canadian wilderness where the Northern Lights can be seen. He is speaking to his young grandson, played by Nicholas Black. In response to the grandson's question about where the Northern Lights come from, the grandfather launches into a story.
© 2024 Classicalite.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
