For immediate release: May 4, 2021

Kinetic presents “Concerto Reimagined,” featuring the world premiere of Concerto/Five by Houston composer Anthony Brandt.

Houston, TX – Conductorless string ensemble Kinetic will perform a world premiere by local composer Anthony Brandt alongside works by Miklós Rózsa and Felix Mendelssohn on May 22, 2022, 6pm at Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston (MATCH). This season finale marks the first in-person Kinetic performance with the full sixteen-piece ensemble since January of 2020, and will be followed by an online release of the concert on the streaming platform A440 on June 6.

An artist-led, artist-curated ensemble of 16 young professional string players, Kinetic is committed to amplifying diverse, under-represented, and newly composed classical music to communities in and beyond Houston, through flexible chamber and orchestral ensemble performances. Since forming in 2015, Kinetic has been gaining momentum as an innovative and dynamic force in the classical music scene, and an important advocate for the rarely-performed works in the classical repertoire. The ensemble has been described as "Houston's Indie, Conductorless Orchestra" that has "found its niche in Houston's music scene" (Houston Public Media), and has been praised for its "thoughtful incisive programming" and "visually arresting... brilliantly executed" performances (Arts+Culture TX).

The program will include the premiere of Concerto/Five by Anthony Brandt, who is a co-founder and Artistic Director of Musiqa and a Professor of Composition and Theory at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

“Concerto/Five is a work for string orchestra in which each movement features a different principal player: second violin, viola, cello—and, in the finale, double bass and first violin. Rather than the Romantic concerti of the 19th century, the work harkens back to Baroque concerti grossi and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, in which different players step forward and then rejoin the ensemble. In the last movement, elements of the previous movements—as well as the soloists themselves—come together. Concerto/Five was composed for the vibrant players of Kinetic.” —Anthony Brandt, composer

Joining “Concerto/Five” on the program are Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa’s Concerto for Strings and Felix Mendelssohn’s String Sinfonia No. 13 in C minor. Rózsa is best known for his Oscar-winning Hollywood film scores, such as his work for Ben-Hur and Spellbound. In the Concerto for Strings, Rózsa, like Brandt, references Baroque concerti grossi while writing in his distinctive, modern, and folk music-inspired style. Mendelssohn’s String Sinfonia was written when the composer was no older than fourteen, and also looks backwards to a Baroque formula – the French overture – while highlighting the individual virtuosity of Kinetic players with overlapping solo lines.

“Concerto Reimagined” will be the first time since the pandemic that Kinetic has had the full ensemble present for a live concert (barring a collaboration with Houston Chamber Choir in the fall,) but a video recording of the show will also be available on the website A440.live, premiering on June 5 at 6pm.

Tickets for “Concerto Reimagined” are available through the MATCH box office and are Pay What You Can.

For more information about Kinetic and about composer Anthony Brandt, please visit: www.kineticensemble.org.

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