Drawn to the question of how we define and express our feelings of deep connection to each other and to the world, composer and pianist Dalit Warshaw explores the seven Classical Greek Loves through this seven-movement cycle of musical portraits. From friendship, to family devotion, to altruistic love, to Eros, we are taken on a journey through the spectrum of human emotion and experience, culminating in intimate and reflective self-love. Musical references abound, including Schumann's Papillons, Debussy's Jeux, and Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel. Different Loves is dedicated to the composer's husband, whose idée fixe, a musical representation of his name, is encrypted and explored through the musical lens of each portrait.
The movements are as follows:
1. "To Philia ('Behold, how good, how pleasant it is...')"
2. "Child's Avowal" (Storge)
3. "For the Love of Our Country!" (Pragma)
4. "Toward the Embrace of All" (Agape)
5. "Games" (Ludus)
6. "Resurrection" (Eros)
7. "Acceptance" (Philautia)
Performed and pre-recorded by Warshaw at the National Opera Center, this virtual premiere will be preceded by a conversation with Marc Peloquin, pianist, educator and director of the KeyedUp MusicProject, about the background and compositional process of the work.
Paloma Alonso
"2020"
Darian Donovan Thomas, violin
Shayna Dunkelman, percussion
Angélica Negrón, mentor
Paloma Alonso is a New York City native. She is 13 years old and attends the Léman Manhattan Preparatory School. Her parents, both classical concert pianists, were her first piano teachers. Alonso cites her Cuban father and Albanian mother as major inspirations for introducing her to music of all styles and genres. She began studying cello six years ago with Juilliard-trained teacher Yves Dharamraj and also pursues her passion for dance at the school of New York Theatre Ballet where she has trained rigorously since the age of four. Alonso joined the New York Philharmonic Young Composers Program in 2017. She commented that "This wonderful program opened a whole new world of expression to me. Composing is another tool that allows me to be expressive in a beautiful and artistic way". In December 2019, on a Young People's Concert, the Philharmonic performed Alonso's Sweating Bullets under the baton of its Music Director Jaap van Zweeden. The orchestral work was scheduled to be performed by the Philharmonic again in April of 2020 but, was unfortunately cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.