Friday afternoon I left work at about 3pm with Shaun L. to head to Boston for my sister’s performance with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP). We picked up Erich, Nicole, and my mom along the way. BMOP is described as “one of a handful of professional orchestras in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.*”

This particular concert focused on works written by French Composers.

The concert as a whole was pretty incredible. It turns out that modern orchestra music is awesome. The first piece, a world premier by Betsy Jolas entitled Jour B, was dark, aggressive, and at a few points, actually frightening. It was a little tough to get into the music, but once I got into it I got very into it. There were three points in the first piece where the orchestra members actually shouted out and it startled the heck out of me. It was wild.

My sister was featured in a piece written by Pascal Dusapin called Galim, written in 1998. It was rather incredible. Prior to the concert she had mentioned being nervous because it was a very difficult piece. Once she started playing I understood. It was furiously fast, sporadic, and energetic.

Alicia, in gown, prepares to amaze all with her flutitude.

The third piece was another piece by Dusapin, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the others.

The final piece was a monster that lasted for about 35 minutes or so. The orchestra was positioned so that the instruments were spread out across the stage. The composer had written the piece taking into consideration the instrument’s location. For example, there was one trumpet on the far left, another on the far right. The left trumpet would start softly and crescendo. The right trumpet would then match the note and volume and then fade. The end result was a feeling that the sound had whipped across the stage from the left to the right. Stunning.

One part of the piece had three percussionists going wild on wooden blocks. It was extremely exciting.

Post concert we met Alicia in the lobby before heading back. Here are a few pictures to conclude this review.

Alicia and her fiance Dwane!

Sister and Brother!

*BMOP website