Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra Gives World Premiere by Marina López, Commissioned by League of America Orchestras

In Monday’s (8/18) Cincinnati Business Courier, Janelle Gelfand writes, “Summermusik explored the intersection of music and the arts in the Art Deco era for its third main-stage program Aug. 16. Music Director Eckart Preu’s jam-packed lineup of music from the ‘20s and ‘30s included plenty of jazz … In between were … little-known works by John Alden Carpenter and Respighi, as well as a world premiere by Mexico City-born composer Marina López” and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major with pianist Terrence Wilson. “For the centerpiece, composer Marina López introduced her ‘Moño’ (‘Bow’). The work is a 2023 Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation orchestra commission.” The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program is an initiative of the League of American Orchestras, in partnership with American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. “López, who lives in Pittsburgh, said her piece imagines the Mexico City of her grandparents’ youth, when the mambo popularized by Cuban bandleader Damaso Perez Prado was the rage. It was the golden age of Mexican cinema and Cuban immigrant musicians played alongside Mexican musicians in the clubs…. The piece, which combines sonata form with mambo dance form, ranged from slow and sensuous to raucous and upbeat. It began with a mellow melody for trumpet accompanied by piano and strings, as if in a dream. As the music grew, mambo rhythms and melodic phrases overlapped each other into a complex tapestry … Bright and engaging, it captured the era’s spirit and the audience gave it an enthusiastic reception.”