I wanted to open it up to the composers to choose who they wrote for — if somebody wanted to write for all three forces they could . If somebody wanted to write just for piano , they could .

But then what ’ s the unifying part to make an album ? I ’ ve always loved these lines of T . S . Eliot “ At the still part of the turning world , Neither from nor towards , Neither flesh or fleshless , at the still point , there the dance is ,” and I thought , “ wouldn ’ t it be great to have composers write about these words ?”

Composers went in all directions . Some focused on the dance ; some focused on the still point . During the process , there were letters discovered between Eliot and a woman named Emily Hale , who was a love interest of Eliot . One of the composers took that as inspiration , so her piece is a love story piece . It ’ s gone in different ways depending on where people have connected with it .

In terms of working with composers , it ’ s been different for each piece . None of the composers did I really work with until I had a score . Pēteris

Vasks is a Latvian composer , and he transcribed a piece that was written for violin and cello . Once I had the score , I played it and sent him recordings of me playing it for comments .

Alvin Singleton ’ s piece was the first one premiered — last May with the New World Symphony , and we did a remote concert . I worked with him once we were performing it .

Paola Prestini — we went back and forth a couple times about some issues in the score . We also arranged for the composers to work with Roomful of Teeth because it ’ s such a specific way of writing for them , so some things changed during the process .

Jessie was interesting because I knew her in her violin life . As she was just starting to compose , we played together , and she came to mind for the project . She wrote this piece that we ’ re doing at the BSO — a beautiful piece for piano and strings . Then , it needed a cadenza , so we ’ ve been working together for two weeks to decide what that ’ s going to look like — a part of which will be improvised .

What is your relationship like with Jessie ? Have you performed together in the past ? We were at a festival in Alaska for about a week , and I was playing with her quartet . She ’ d been composing already , but it wasn ’ t at the point where she had stopped the quartet to exclusively compose . I just had the sense that she ’ s very serious and thoughtful person , and once she turned to just composing , I knew I wanted her to write a piece for me .

Do you have any fun hobbies or passions outside of music ? I collect wine . I like to smoke meat : I have a 700-pound smoker , and I like sports .

Who are your teams ? Well , I was born in Pittsburgh .

Seems like a good point to end for our Baltimore audiences !

BALTIMORE CHORAL ARTS PRESENTS

NEW DATE AND LOCATION :

SUNDAY , MAY 29 , 2022 | 3 PM

KRAUSHAAR AUDITORIUM AT GOUCHER COLLEGE

ANTHONY BLAKE CLARK Music Director

In Mozart Requiem Reframed , we premiere a commission by Morgan State University alumna Jasmine Barnes . The work pulls inspiration from the Mozart Requiem to reflect on Baltimore today with texts by Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass . We also premiere Music Director Anthony Blake Clark ’ s new performance edition of the Mozart Requiem . This concert will be recorded for a new commercial album , our first in more than a decade .

Alamy

Tickets starting at $ 20 . www . BaltimoreChoralArts . org

Proof of vaccination and booster , if eligible , required . Social distance seating will be implemented . K95 , KN95 , KF94 or a combination of cloth mask with surgical mask are required .

MAY-JUN 2022 / OVERTURE 15