Tales of Love and Justice with Jennifer Higdon

March 5, 2023 7:30 pm Newmark Theatre

March 5, 2023, 7:30 pm

Newmark Theatre

Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon will join MYS for an artistic residency and to attend the March 5 concert, during which MYS will perform the West Coast premiere of Higdon’s Cold Mountain Suite. Winner of the International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016, Cold Mountain debuted as an opera, telling the story of a Confederate soldier grappling with conflicts of violence, love, and redemption. The piece was co-commissioned by MYS through New Music for America in cooperation with The League of American Orchestras and a consortium of 15 professional orchestras.

Accompanying the Cold Mountain Suite are four selections from Margaret Allison Bonds’ The Montgomery Variations (Decision, March, Dawn in Dixie, and Benediction). Based on the African American Spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” and edited by John Michael Cooper, these variations focus on the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, and resistance to segregationist policies in the Jim Crow era.

Audiences will hear MYS students play the world premiere of a piece by student composer Margot Pullen as part of The Authentic Voice commissioning series. This project provides direct representation of young composers and conductors within the orchestra.

2023 Concerto Competition Strings category winner, Leo Trajano, will perform Bruch Violin Concerto, Mov. 3.

MYS Sinfonietta Orchestra will also perform.

Tickets are available on the Portland’5 website or in person at the Newmark Box Office on the day of the concert.

Higdon also joins MYS for a special artistic residency leading up to the show. This residency was inspired by the work MYS does to cultivate and showcase the work of students from Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project through The Authentic Voice commissioning series. Higdon will attend MYS rehearsals to work with students performing the suite, present a Saturday session on her music that is open to the public, and hold a Sunday master class with students from Young Composers Project, also open to the public.

  • An Exploration of the Works and Inspirations of Jennifer Higdon
    • Saturday, March 4, 9:30am-11:00am at Portland State University, LH 75: Higdon will present an overview of her works and answer questions. MYS Music Director Raúl Gómez-Rojas will emcee.
  • Young Composer Master Class with Jennifer Higdon
    • Sunday, March 5, 9:30am-11:00am at Portland State University, LH 225: Higdon will facilitate a master class for Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project students, workshopping scores and recordings of works in progress.