Saturday, February 23, 2019

Nomad Session to Premiere Benavides Piece

Next month will see the second of the three concerts to be presented as part of The Eight, the title of the second season of Nomad Session. The title of the season refers to the performing ensemble itself, which is an octet consisting of four woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon) and four brass instruments (horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba). The title of this second concert will be Tales for Eight.

Featured composer Nick Benavides (courtesy of Nomad Session)

The Eight has been organized in such a way that each of its three programs will premiere a commissioned work. The composer to be featured next month will be Nick Benavides, whose Cool Grey City was premiered by Nomad Session last season. The title of this season’s premiere is “Ocho Bendiciones” (eight blessings). The composer calls this piece a folktale for wind octet and narrator; and the tale is taken from Juan B. Rael’s anthology of Spanish stories collected in the states of Colorado and New Mexico. The libretto was created by Diego Dela Rosa, and Benavides himself will narrate with Nomad Session for the premiere performance.

“Ocho Bendiciones” will be the final work on the Tales for Eight program. The program will begin with Roger Zare’s “Mare Tranquillitatis,” originally composed for string orchestra and subsequently rearranged for wind ensemble. This will be followed by Malcolm Arnold’s Opus 59 collection of four dances inspired by Scottish country folk tunes and dances. This piece was originally composed for full orchestra and subsequently arranged by Kris King and Stephanie Stroud for wind octet. The remaining work on the program will be the fifth (and most familiar) in Johannes Brahms’ collection of Hungarian Dances. Nomad Session will play a new wind octet version by King.

This concert will take place at the Noe Valley Ministry, beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 15. The Noe Valley Ministry is located at 3021 Sanchez Street, a short walk from the 24th Street stop on the Muni J trolley line. General admission for all concerts in the season will be $25. Students with appropriate identification will be admitted for $5. A Eventbrite Web page has been created for advance general admission ticket purchases.

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