National Festival Orchestra: Pierson Conducts Adams
National Festival Orchestra
Artistic Director James Undercofler
Conductor Alan Pierson
Event Attributes
Presented By
The National Orchestral Institute and Festival (NOI) brings together talented young musicians at the beginning of their careers for a month of professional development and music-making.
Chosen by a rigorous, cross-country audition process, NOI participants quickly coalesce into dynamic ensembles that perform adventuresome programming.
Known for his dynamic interpretations of modern music, Alan Pierson leads the National Festival Orchestra in John Adams’s groundbreaking work, Harmonielehere.
Program
- Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2
- Arnold Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op 9b (version for full orchestra)
- John Adams: Harmonielehre
Review by The Washington Post
The University of Maryland ended its month-long 2013 National Orchestral Institute on Saturday with a concert by the National Festival Orchestra that was most notable for the incisive and focused playing of its young members…
That they handled [John Adams' Harmonielehre] beautifully, however, is due in large part to Pierson, not the most graceful conductor to watch but nonetheless a model of clarity, who gave them all the help they needed.
– JOAN REINTHALER, The Washington Post, June 30, 2013