ARTS
"THINK GLOBALLY, PREMIERE LOCALLY -- It was just 10 days before the deadline when violist and composer Don Krishnaswami heard about the 2003 William Lincer Foundation composer competition. But that didn't stop the accomplished musician from Norfolk.
He sat down to write, and seven days later, had the score for "Threnody" in hand. Despite formidable competition from some five dozen international composers, the work placed as a finalist.
"What drove the piece from beginning to end were my own thoughts and emotions about Sept. 11. I had no such plan. It just all came out," says Krishnaswami. "To bring a stillness to the mental anguish and turmoil is what my hope was in the piece. It ends with the three instruments way up high in the stratosphere. It's very quiet, and they bring a sense of peace, yet there's something horrible within them."
As part of Franklin's new LiveArts music series, The Bristol Chamber Orchestra string trio will perform the world premiere of "Threnody" this Sunday. Harris Shilakowsky, the orchestra's artistic director and trio violinist, chose the piece.
"It reminds me of the work of the greatest composers," says Shilakowsky. "I hear the angst of Shostakovich in it, some influences of Samuel Barber. It's very beautiful and very well-crafted."
Also on the program -- performed by Krishnaswami, Shilakowsky, and cellist Jan Pfeiffer -- are Beethoven's Opus 9, No. 1; Darius Milhaud's "Sonatine a Trois;' and Tchaikovsky's Allegretto Moderato in D Major.
The Bristol Chamber trio performs at The Meetinghouse of the First Universalist Society, 262 Chestnut St., Franklin, at 3:30 p.m."
back to the Bristol Chamber Orchestra website