October Skies - Songs for Tenor, Violin, Cello and Percussion

October Skies - Songs for Tenor, Violin, Cello and Percussion

MS 1826 (MSR Classics, CD)

DDD
Stereo
FIRST RELEASE (7 September 2023)

Playing time: 60'02"
Tracks: 19
Booklet pages: 16
℗ 2023 October Sky Ensemble
© 2023 October Sky Ensemble
Main country of recording: United States of America
Country of manufacture: United States of America
Reviewer: Geoff Pearce
Review of October Skies - Songs for Tenor, Violin, Cello and Percussion published on 20 October 2023

October Sky Ensemble:
Brian Thorsett, tenor
John Irrera, violin
Alan Weinstein, cello
Annie Stevens, percussion

Daron Hagen (born 1961):

Dante Fragments

Brian Holmes (born 1946):

There was an Old Man

Hilary Tann (1947-2023):

... Against the Shore

Stacy Garrop (born 1969):

The Solitude of Stars

Michael Scherperel (born 1947):

Merciles Beauté

Edgar Girtain (born 1988):

Three Appalachian Folk Songs

Recorded 17-20 May 2021 at Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, Moss Arts Center, Virginia Polytechnic University, USA.

October Sky is a mixed-instrument chamber ensemble featuring violinist John Irrera, percussionist Annie Stevens, tenor Brian Thorsett and cellist Alan Weinstein. Members of the ensemble have performed both as soloists and as October Sky around the world. The ensemble is actively engaged in the creation of new repertoire for this unique instrumentation and as such actively commissions, performs and records new works as well as fresh arrangements of neglected repertory. Featured composers range from Barbara Strozzi to Hilary Tann, from Daron Hagen to Daniel Levitan, Gala Flagello, and back to Binchois. Highlights include being the commissioning ensemble for the Andrew Yee Composition Competition as well as invited concerts across the United States, Europe, and South America. Based in Blacksburg, Virginia, the members of October Sky are artist-educators at the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech.