New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra to open Spring 2019 Season

The New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra will give the North American premiere of “Mahashatki”, a 2003 work by the late Sir John Tavener, in a program exploring the deeply spiritual minimalism of Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, and John Tavener on February 9, 2019 at 7:30 PM, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Westfield.

The Saturday evening concert -- “Transcendence” --  will also feature Arvo Pärt’s haunting and spare “Tabula Rasa” and Henryk Górecki’s thrilling post-baroque concerto for harpsichord and strings.

Tavener (1944-2013) was a prolific composer of deeply spiritual work and a close friend of Sir Paul McCartney and the Princess Diana. “Mahashakti” explores the Sanskrit concept of the eternal feminine as a gateway into divine understanding. It is scored for strings, violin solo and percussionist.

Górecki’s “Harpsichord Concerto” (1980) is a short, driving virtuosic piece that is significant departure from the sound of any previous harpsichord piece ever written. Carl Patrick Bolleia will be the featured soloist for this and Pärt’s landmark “Tabula Rasa” (1977), the Estonian composer’s first to use his fascinating “tintinnabuli” style.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for “Transcendence” are available at the door for $25 ($10 for students) or at the Steeple Concerts website at SteepleConcerts.org. Spring Season Subscriptions are also available at a discount for a limited time.