A New Voice for Brass
Premiering Kevin Day’s “Sing to the Moon”
As part of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s 9 for 90 commissioning project – a season-long initiative marking the KSO’s 90th anniversary with nine new works by nine composers – Kevin Day contributed a piece for brass quintet titled Sing to the Moon. The work receives its world premiere this week in the KSO’s intimate Q Series performance at the Elks Lodge.
The concert will feature the KSO’s Principal Brass Quintet comprised of Kole Pantuso and Brian Winegardner, trumpets; Kelsey Bentley, horn; Samuel Chen, trombone; and Mike Anderson, tuba.
Music Director Aram Demirjian describes 9 for 90 as a collaborative effort shaped not only by his artistic vision but also by the musicians who will bring these new works to life. In this case, members of the Brass Quintet recommended Day, an acclaimed composer and jazz pianist whose genre-blending style they admired.
British singer-songwriter Laura Mvula, whose soulful original Sing to the Moon serves as the inspiration for Kevin Day’s world-premiere composition for the KSO’s Principal Brass Quintet.
Day’s Sing to the Moon is inspired by one of his favorite songs by British singer-songwriter Laura Mvula. “I wanted to write something that would be in the spirit of beauty and hopefulness,” he says. “The interpolated melody provides the framework for the contrasting sections of this composition that flow between lyrical and technical.”
For the musicians, preparing a world premiere is an exhilarating experience according to KSO horn player Kelsey Bentley, a frequent collaborator with orchestras such as the Cincinnati and Nashville symphonies and a featured chamber soloist. “As instrumentalists we expect to explore and interpret the composer’s creative intention, but here the process was richly layered and more fluid,” says Bentley.
One of those layers is the version of “Sing to the Moon” by Snarky Puppy, the American jazz-fusion collective. “Between ingraining the poetry of Mvula’s lyrics to the lush density of Snarky Puppy’s restructuring of the song, our engagement with Day’s composition became a very cyclical kind of dialogue,” says Bentley.
Bentley adds that premieres like this are most meaningful when shared with listeners. “We’re very excited to be a part of 9 for 90, to bring our audience into this process, and have the opportunity to share in the heartbeat of contemporary art.”
Q Series at the Elks Lodge
December 10 at 12:00 pm – The Q Series is made possible by a generous gift from Mardel Fehrenbach, and December’s performance is sponsored by Bill Schwenterly.