Canadian violin virtuoso Kerson Leong teams up with the award-winning chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy under the baton of Nicolas Ellis to offer us American Seasons, an unusual and thrilling program showcasing the works of Philip Glass and Astor Piazzolla.
Ellis, Leong, and Les Violons du Roy present two major contemporary works inspired by Vivaldi’s timeless Four Seasons (a work which needs no introduction): Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (composed between 1965 and 1970) and Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2, The Four American Seasons (2009). Piazzolla takes us on an Argentinian voyage through the seasons, reflecting the life of the capital and its thrilling tangos, practically palpable in Leonid Desyatnikov’s arrangement for violin and string orchestra. Glass allows more room for musical interpretation, departing from Vivaldi’s model and removing the seasons from the movement titles. Conductor, soloist, and ensemble deliver a sensational performance that does justice to these extraordinary compositions while echoing their initial source of inspiration.
