If the first thing you do when you get in your car is put on a playlist, you already associate music with going places, whether that’s a trip to the mountains or the grocery store. The point is the journey, not the destination. The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra wants to take that journey one step further.
“Trips is an invitation to be curious,” says Jean-Marie Zeitouni, ESO’s music director. The new music series, Trips, is a curated experience, almost like a guided tour, but through sound rather than physical space. “I hope audiences will come ready to listen with open ears and perhaps leave hearing music in a new way,” Zeitouni says.
The first performance, Light Trip, “departs” Oct. 15, and seeks to explore the nature of daylight. Assistant Conductor Shah Sadikov takes the podium, leading the audience through solos, electronics and new orchestral sounds composed since the turn of the millennium. This trip also sees the North American debut of Huw Watkins’ Double Concerto for Viola and Cello.
The orchestra’s next auditory trip heads to the dark and snowy north, combining Lara Po’s Kaamos with Vincent Ho’s Arctic Symphony to create Arctic Trip, conducted by Zeitouni on Feb. 18. Building on that, the third trip goes further beyond the physical, out of light and darkness and into the subconscious with Dream Trip. For this journey, Zeitouni directs the orchestra through the music of Joe Hisaishi, who audiences might know from his work composing music for many Studio Ghibli films. (For Ghibli fans, music from Howl’s Moving Castle is on the concert’s setlist.) Dream Trip is set for May 27.
“Each concert takes us somewhere different, exploring new sounds, ideas and perspectives through the orchestra,” Zeitouni says. “You don’t need to know where the journey will lead.”
