Angélica Negrón
Composer
Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Willamette University’s Rogers Music Center, Hudson Concert Hall
It is with great excitement and pleasure as artistic director to reach out to our dear patrons and Oregon community about the upcoming Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series 2024- 2025 season! It was my intention this year to bring to campus the best of the new and the best of the old.
Our opening concert features the wildly inventive cutting edge Puerto-Rican composer Angélica Negrón, who has already made her mark in our state, performing on the prestigious Portland Series “ Third Angle”, and also premiering a major work with the Eugene Symphony.
Angelica is known for her extraordinary creativity. Negrón writes music for accordions, robotic instruments, toys, and electronics as well as for chamber ensembles, orchestras, choir, and film. Her music has been described as “wistfully idiosyncratic and contemplative” (WQXR/Q2-New York), while The New York Times noted her “capacity to surprise.” Negrón has been commissioned by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kronos Quartet, loadbang, Prototype Festival, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Sō Percussion, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, the Louisville Orchestra and the New York Botanical Garden, among others. She was the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize. Upcoming premieres include works for the Seattle Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra and NY Philharmonic Project 19 initiative and multiple performances at Big Ears Festival 2022.
Her residency will begin with a lecture/ question answer presentation to the Willamette community on the Music Department's weekly convocation Tuesday Nov 5. at 11:20 a.m. ( free to the public) . Her concert will follow on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Concert Hall.
The first half of the concert will feature three separate works, all involving solo instruments in conjunction with electronics. The pieces are: “ Iniri”, “El Ruido de Mis Ojos” and “Disco Giratorio” performed respectively by two brilliant artist associates: cellist Kathryn Brunhaver, tenor- saxophonist Jonathan Hart, and our wonderful pianist, senior Trinity Goff. The second half of the concert Negron will take over and present a collection of her works with an eclectic assortment of instruments, many of which she has invented. This promises to be an evening of what concerts should truly be, an exploration of new sounds and aesthetics!
I mention the idea of what concerts “should be” with the understanding that performing masterworks of departed, deceased composers did not really become standard until Mendelssohn “resurrected Bach's “St Matthew Passion” in a concert. We, of course understand what then followed became the standard practice of having almost all of the works performed on a program be that of ancient masters.
For two centuries,the unique experience of hearing the works of contemporary composers for the first time has been the exception as opposed to the rule…
Of course, hearing masterpieces is a fabulous experience akin to going into the greatest art museum and seeing collections that span centuries. It was with this intention that I specifically desired to present the works of perhaps the greatest Renaissance composer, an individual whose staggering versatility and brilliance gave the musical world a foundation without which a composer like Bach might never have created the majestic legacy which inspired composers and those who love music for centuries. On February 19th, 2025,, the Portland based choral ensemble, Cantores in Ecclesia, will give us the unique experience of presenting an evening featuring uniquely the music of composer Josquin de Prez. This genius wrote not only music for the church but secular works, some of which became known as the quintessential Renaissance form known as madrigals. He composed not only in every important musical modality, but also in the major languages of the day: Latin, Italian, and French.
So, as previously indicated, I think these two concerts will offer our students, our patrons, and the Willamette Valley the best that music can provide!
-Jean-David Coen, Artistic Director
Here is a link to Angelica Negron speaking about one of her works.