The Brandenburg Concertos "reveal the composer’s delight in writing for a group of highly trained instrumentalists. There is an exuberance and abundance of inspiration in this music which only a genius, aware of his newly achieved full mastery, could call forth.  Craftsmanship and richly flowing melodic invention, logic and zest for experimenting, counterpoise each other here to an extent rarely equaled again even by Bach himself.”

                             -Karl Geiringer, Bach biographer

These superb pieces, so rich in invention, form a perfect set, even today representing an alpha and omega of instrumental composition and orchestrational mastery not just for the High Baroque period but for all time.

In 2006, Orpheus began The New Brandenburgs, a commissioning project to create six new concertos inspired by Bach's original Brandenburg concertos.  We simply asked each composer to use one of the six original Brandenburg Concertos as a general model; beyond some restrictions on orchestration, each composer could respond as he or she wished. We assembled a diverse, highly qualified, and distinguished group of composers.

Leading off, in December 2006, was Stephen Hartke. Stephen had already conceived of a piece called “A Brandenburg Autumn,” utilizing exactly the same instrumentation as the 1st Brandenburg, begun during his residency at the American Academy in Berlin and inspired in part by the nearby palatial residences of the Margrave himself. In 2007, Christopher Theofanidis’ 3rd Brandenburg-inspired work for strings and harpsichord, “Muse” (the title a reference to Bach’s status for the great majority of all musicians), received its premiere.

2008-09 saw the premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec’s homage to the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto, in which Paul retains the violin, flute and trumpet solo parts but replaced the oboe with clarinet; another Pulitzer Prize-winner, Melinda Wagner, followed with her take on the 4th. A third Pulitzer recipient, the prolific Aaron Jay Kernis, offered his 6th Concerto-inspired contribution this season, followed up by the venerable Peter Maxwell Davies, who caps off the project with a piano concerto modeled on the 5th Concerto.

Alan Kay

Orpheus Member Musician:Clarinet

Artistic Director: Personnel Coordinator