The October 15 Eugene Symphony season premiere didn’t disappoint! Led by Conductor Alex Prior and performed at Hult Center Silva Concert Hall, the orchestra captivated the audience with three exciting compositions:
- Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird
- Antonín Dvořák – New World Symphony
- Anna Clyne – Color Field
Igor Stravinsky – Russian Composer
Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird is often referred to as “The Ultimate Russian Fairytale”. In his composition, Stravinsky displays the tradition of Russian composers to use “strange, chromatic scales and harmonies to depict supernatural forces and simpler, more natural folk melodies to represent human characters”.
In 1910, at the age of 27, Stravinsky composed Firebird for the legendary Les Ballets Russes. The popular composition made him an “international sensation”.
Antonín Dvořák – Czech Composer
Antonín Dvořák tops my list of favorite composers. The Bohemian composer lived in America for 3 years (1892-95). He created the beautiful New World Symphony in 1893, while Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City.
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“The most popular of all Dvořák’s works, Symphony No. 9 From the New World, makes an immediate appeal by virtue of a seemingly inexhaustible flow of melody and sparkling orchestration.” Naxos
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Dvořák began working on American themes in 1892. Harry Burleigh, his African-American assistant at the Conservatory or Music, wrote – “Part of the 19th century spiritual, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, is found in the second theme of Dvořák’s first movement. The composer saturated himself with the spirit of these old tunes, and then invented his own themes.”
During the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong took with him a personal cassette tape which included Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony.
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“The New World Symphony premiered to a packed audience at Carnegie Hall on December 16, 1893. Performed by the New York Philharmonic, it was an instant, overwhelming victory.”
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Anna Clyne – British-American Composer
During the concert, I learned more about Anna Clyne’s compositions and accomplishments. Impressive London-born Clyne is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music.
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“Anna Clyne is a GRAMMY-nominated, Ivor Novello Award-winning composer, described by The New York Times as a composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods, by NPR as fearless, and by The Wall Street Journal as possessing a rare gift.” annaclyne.com
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Written in 2020, her composition, Color Field, is a “musical response” to American artist Mark Rothko’s 1961 painting Red, Orange, Yellow. Commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Color Field premiered in 2021.
Clyne’s music has been featured at major international events, and she’s held residencies with orchestras all over the world. Her recorded works are available on SONY Classical.
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“Electroacoustic music is a style of musical composition and performance in which electronic devices manipulate the acoustic sounds of musical instruments.” Master Class
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“Color Field was inspired by Mark Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) – a powerful example of the artist’s Color Field paintings, featuring red and yellow framing a massive swash of vibrant orange that seems to vibrate off the canvas.” Boosey & Hawks
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Alex Prior – Composer & Conductor
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“2025–2026 marks Prior’s debut as Music Director and Conductor of the Eugene Symphony, with programming highlights that include Bernstein’s West Side Story, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”), Duke Ellington’s Harlem, and Handel’s Messiah (arr. Eugene Goossens).” arabella-arts.com
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A child prodigy born in 1992, Prior began playing piano at the age of 3. As a teenager, he composed his first ballet, Mowgli, for the Moscow State Ballet. He was almost 16 when his composition, based on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Books, premiered in 2008 at State Kremlin Palace. A revised production of Mowgli Ballet appeared in Moscow earlier this year. In 2017 and 2024, Eugene Ballet performed Mowgil choreographed by Toni Pimble.
