Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Orquestra de São Paulo with Dame Evelyn Glennie, percussion
KAZEM ABDULLAH, CONDUCTOR

Wednesday, October 14, 2009, at 7:30pm | Foellinger Great Hall

Great Hall Series | Dame Evelyn Glennie has indelibly marked the orchestral world with her exhilarating approach to the art of percussion. Combining deft subtlety, unsurpassed technique, dramatic visuals, and striking musicality, Glennie creates performances of such intensity and variety that they have redefined the realm of live performance. Through her impassioned advocacy, she has commissioned 160 new works from world-class composers that extend the language for rhythmic solos, and she has partnered with dozens of renowned orchestras as well as a huge spectrum of artists ranging from Björk to Bobby McFerrin and from Sting to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

On her first trip to Krannert Center, she joins forces with the Orquestra de São Paulo and rising star Kazem Abdullah. An international performing power that has created a new model for classical music in Brazil, the ensemble embraces not only traditional masterpieces but also the entire catalog of Brazilian compositions. The orchestra’s heart beats with the vibrant creativity born of its marvelously disparate cultures to which Abdullah will bring his own brand of intelligent energy and drive. He earned raves on his Met debut, conducting Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice for the remounting of Mark Morris’ evening-length ballet, and at only 29, he has already been singled out by Michael Tilson Thomas as an impressive talent to be watched on his ascension.

On this tour, Glennie and the orchestra will perform James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, and the orchestra will present an impressionistic and rhythmic display in Encantamento and Três danças Brasileiras para orquestra by Brazilian Camargo Guarnieri and conclude with Brahms’ glorious Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73.

Download the program for this performance
Endowed Underwriters:
Avis and Dean Hilfinger

Patron Co-sponsors:
Lois and Robert Resek
Susan and Robert Welke