Esprit Orchestra Presents: X Marks The Spot by Meredith, A., Xenakis, Ligeti, Schafer, R Murray, Från (2023/2023), Dirigent Alex Pauk, Koerner Hall, Toronto, Kanada

Exploring varied musical, physical and psychological environments, any one of which could be marked with an X as a destination worth visiting, this program moves from Anna Meredith’s bold, highly energized Nautilus, derived from a stomp along a beach in Scotland, to R. Murray Schafer’s depiction of the rain and mist shrouded Neuschwanstein, King Ludwig’s castle in the Bavarian mountains. As in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti’s Atmosphères will transfix listeners in the timelessness and outer limits of Cosmic sound and silence. Using advanced mathematical calculations to generate forms and textures in music, Iannis Xenakis changed the direction of composition in the 20th century forever as can be experienced in the poetic expressions in two of his astounding works on this program.