A concert featuring music from early in the career of Composition Department Chair Michael Hersch (BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition) will be presented in Baltimore on Friday, November 4. The works, all composed during the composer’s twenties, include both his rarely heard Sonatas for Unaccompanied Cello, and Hersch’s only work for a cappella choir, From Ecclesiastes. The sonatas will be performed by Lavena Johanson (MM ’13, Cello), only the second cellist to have undertaken both works during a single evening. The choral work, From Ecclesiastes, will be given it’s world premiere by the Choir of St. David’s and the Bridge Ensemble directed by Peabody faculty member, Dr. Douglas Buchanan (MM ’08, Composition, Music Theory Pedagogy; DMA ’13, Composition). The concert will take place on the First Friday Music Series at Episcopal Church in Baltimore.
Tim Smith’s Review of the concert: The Baltimore Sun, November 9, 2016, St. David’s Episcopal offers all-Michael Hersch program, including world premiere