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Luminescence
David Kirtley composer
Robert Burrell composer
Rain Worthington composer
Raymond Bokhour composer
Daniel Burwasser composer
Marvin Schluger composer
Kiev Philharmonic | Robert Ian Winston conductor
Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra | Petr Vronský, Stanislav Vavrínek conductors
Seattle Symphony Orchestra | Gerard Schwarz conductor
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra | John Yaffé conductor
LUMINESCENCE brings to light six works for small and large orchestra, showcasing the inspired directions and composers of contemporary orchestral music. Marvin Schluger’s Manhattan Suite for full orchestra is being released 14 years after its recording. New York, 2013 by Raymond Bokhour is another piece alluding to the Big Apple, as experienced by the composer that year. Serenade for Strings by Robert Burrell captures the musicality of Australian avian species while Daniel Burwasser’s piece Catching Fireflies reflects the innocence and playfulness of childhood pastimes. David Kirtley contemplates the life and mystical journey of the Oglala Sioux holy man, Nicholas Black Elk, in Leaves falling from the Holy Tree. In the tone poem, Within a Dance, Rain Worthington evokes the intimacy of a first invitation to dance, and the continuing dance of love.
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Artist Information
David Kirtley
After an injury in 1982 ended his career as a modern dancer, David Kirtley focused on a new path as a self-taught composer. His efforts were rewarded when in 1987 he was granted a residency/fellowship from the Yellowsprings Institute in Pennsylvania for his piece, Songs for the Outcasts of Great Turtle’s Back, a song cycle recounting the great losses of life, land, and culture suffered by the American Indians.
Robert Burrell
Robert Burrell (b. 1956) composes music across a wide spectrum of genre and medium. Coming out of his foundational years in the improvisational genre of charismatic worship music, he has developed a distinctive voice across multiple disciplines.
Rain Worthington
Believing that creativity is an elemental and essential part of human nature, Rain Worthington has followed her own instinctive path. Self-taught and cross-disciplinary, her creative impulses include concert music and sculptural spaces for attentive reflection. American Record Guide notes a focus of “deep interiority” from “a composer of considerable imagination, emotional expressiveness, and poetic sensibility.”
Raymond Bokhour
Raymond Bokhour is a composer, actor, and playwright. He has composed for over 70 theatrical productions over 30 years, with 10 years as Resident Composer for Albany's Actors Shakespeare Company. He composed for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company's productions of Winter's Tale, Much Ado, and Twelfth Night.
Daniel Burwasser
Daniel Burwasser, born in New Brunswick NJ, is an American composer who has been writing and playing music since the age of 5. Originally a student of the piano, he eventually progressed to other forms of percussion, including drum set and orchestral percussion. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Temple University, a Master of Arts degree from Rutgers University, and his Ph.D. in Composition from the Graduate School of CUNY. He is a recipient of grants from both The American Music Center and Meet the Composer.
Marvin Schluger
Marvin Schluger (1923-2004) was born into a poor immigrant Jewish family in Philadelphia PA. His father had been a coppersmith in the Old World but found it difficult to make a living in America, so Schluger's mother worked to sustain the family. It seemed, however, that there was always an extra dollar-and-a-half for Schluger and his sister to take weekly music lessons. Piano studies with Joseph Levine, and subsequently with Maria Carreras, were the focus of this early music education, while Schluger's explorations in composition were largely self-taught.
Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra
The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the foremost and oldest symphony orchestras in the Czech Republic. It is based in the historical capital of Moravia, the city of Olomouc, and has been a leader of music activities in the region for the past 70 years. Its artistic development was directly influenced by distinguished figures from the Czech and international music scene.
Petr Vronský
After successes in several important international competitions for conductors — including the competition in Besancon France in 1971 and the Karajan Competition in Berlin in 1973 — his career began at the opera company in Pilsen. From 1974 to 1978, he was Chief of Opera of the State Theater in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic. In 1978, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he held until 1991. Vronsky was later appointed Chief Conductor of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava in 2002.
Stanislav Vavřínek
Stanislav Vavřínek is one of the most prominent Czech conductors and has been Chief Conductor of the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice since 2018. Having graduated from the Conservatory in Brno where he studied flute and conducting, he continued his education at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Subsequently, he also took master classes with Roberto Benzi in Switzerland, culminating with a concert in which he conducted the Biel Philharmonic Orchestra.
