Kernis: Residency Continues with the Minnesota Orchestra

1st December 2006

"Aaron Kernis is a trusted advisor and a critical link for our orchestra to what is happening in contemporary music today." So states Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä on the three-year extension of Kernis's post as New Music Advisor.

Kernis — Pulitzer Prize and Grawemeyer Award-winning composer — began his position in 1998. Since then, he has composed new works for the orchestra, advised Vänskä on contemporary music for programming, and mentored young composers as chairman of the orchestra's Composer Institute. The Minnesota Orchestra's Kernis commissions include: Lament and Prayer (1996, for violin and string orchestra with soloist Pamela Frank); Salsa Pasada (1996); Air for Violin and Orchestra (1996, with Joshua Bell); Concierto de "Dance Hits" (1999); Colored Field (2000, version for cello and orchestra featuring Truls Mørk); and Valentines (2000, with soprano Renée Fleming).Around the world: In March 2007, cellist Lee Duckles joins the Vancouver Symphony for two concerts of Air, and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra presents Too Hot Toccata conducted by James MacMillan. In May, Netherlands audiences will again hear Kernis's music, when Mark Wigglesworth conducts Musica Celestis with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.