New York . She is also a member of Musicians for Human Rights , a worldwide network of musicians and people working in the field of music to promote a culture of human rights and social change .

Hélène Grimaud last appeared with the BSO in September 2004 , performing Schumann ' s Piano Concerto , Yuri Temirkanov , conductor .

About the concert :

Within Her Arms

Anna Clyne

Born in London , England , March 9 , 1980 ; now living in Brooklyn , New York

Last season , Marin Alsop introduced Baltimore Symphony Orchestra audiences to the music of the London-born composer Anna Clyne with her scintillating overture Masquerade and the world premiere of her Abstractions , inspired by five paintings in Baltimore collections . For this season ’ s concerts , Maestra Alsop has chosen a very different Clyne work : her deeply moving elegy Within Her Arms , composed in 2009 , soon after the death of the composer ’ s mother .

From 2010 to 2015 , Clyne served as the Mead Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Symphony . Its music director , Riccardo Muti describes her as “ an artist who writes from the heart , who defies categorization and who reaches across all barriers and boundaries .” In 2015 , Clyne was nominated for a Grammy Award .

Anna Clyne draws her ideas from sources beyond the purely musical . She launches many compositions not by experimenting on the piano but instead by creating a collage painting for her studio wall , embodying visually what she wants her new piece to say sonically . “ My passion is collaboration ,” she explains . “ Creating new works through a fluid artistic dialogue has consistently fueled my music from new perspectives and has maintained a fresh and creative environment .”

A concrete inspiration for Within Her Arms was a Baroque-style violin with a carved scroll in the shape of a gargoyle that Clyne saw in the window of a thrift shop in Oxford , England shortly after her mother ’ s death in 2008 . That violin , purchased for six pounds , generated a series of string pieces in which Clyne meditated on her loss . Written for 15 string players , Within Her Arms speaks eloquently and powerfully to anyone who has lost someone they love deeply .

Clyne prefaced the score with verse by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh :

“ Earth will keep you tight within her arms , dear one —

So that tomorrow you will be transformed into flowers —

This flower smiling quietly in this morning field —

This morning you will weep no more , dear one —

For we have gone through too deep a night .

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