Schedule
HostsWays to Give
HomePlaylistSchedule
HostsEventsOn DemandOur StoryOur TeamWays to Give Become a Sponsor
How to ListenVisit Help CenterContact Us

Find Us on Social Media:

Logo image

Find Us on Social Media:

Download Our Mobile App:

google play icon

About

HomePlaylistSchedule
HostsOn DemandOur StoryOur Team

Community

EventsWays to Give Become a SponsorPressDiversity StatementCareersAnnual EEO ReportDigital Accessibility

Help

Visit Help CenterContact UsHow to Listen

©2025 Classical California

Sweepstakes RulesFCC ComplianceLocal Public FilesCPB ComplianceAnnual EEO ReportPrivacy PolicyCode of Integrity

articles / Pop Culture

A Delicate Arrangement of Sounds

Pop CultureThe State of the Arts

Earplay launches its 33rd season next Monday with a program called ‘A Delicate Arrangement of Sounds,’ which includes a world premiere, and a West Coast premiere, with pieces inspired by poetry, painting, and friendship. Conductor Mary Chun says on each of the concerts this season there will be a work by Richard Festinger, who was one of the founders of the ensemble.

A Delicate Arrangement of Sounds
00:00

There’s more information about Monday night’s concert at the Taube Atrium Theater, at the Earplay website.

Festinger is 70 this year, and as Chun explains, “We’re actually celebrating Richard’s birthday that ends in a zero, and since he’s our founder and a wonderful composer in the Bay Area, every year we’ve been featuring a spotlight composer of the 21st or 20th century, and this year we’ve chosen Richard in honor and to help celebrate his auspicious occasion.” His piece in the first concert is called The Coming of Age, which has soprano Nikki Enfield joining the ensemble. The texts are by Denis Johnson, who before writing such story collections as Jesus’ Son, and the National Book Award winning novel Tree of Smoke, had his first book of poetry published by the time he was twenty. In the early 1980s, the composer and the writer met. “We had a mutual friend who introduced us, I went up and spent a couple of days with Denis staying in Robert Frost’s house in Franconia, and having a great time. I was a resident at the MacDowell Colony in southern New Hampshire, and every year the town of Franconia in northern New Hampshire has a Frost Festival, and they invite a young poet to be the poet-in-residence, and Denis was the Frost poet that year.” When he was commissioned by the Works in Process series at the Guggenheim Museum, Festinger says his first thought was of Johnson’s poems, and he pulled four “…that all shared love in one of its many aspects as a theme.”

 

Pop CultureThe State of the Arts
Written by:
Jeffrey Freymann
Jeffrey Freymann
Published on 05.11.2018
Loading...

MORE LIKE THIS

A Pair of Iconoclasts

A Pair of Iconoclasts

Music Director Michael Morgan programs Oakland Symphony's opening concert with Beethoven and Shostakovich symphonies, reflecting on life's stages and his recent 60th birthday.

05/11/2018
A Musical Reminder of Injustices

A Musical Reminder of Injustices

Anthony Brown, leader of the Asian American Orchestra, commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Japanese-American internment with a new work, Go For Broke.

05/11/2018
A Pairing of Early “Mini-Operas”

A Pairing of Early “Mini-Operas”

Les Arts Florissants ensemble performs Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Actéon and Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in Berkeley and Rohnert Park. The staging stays true to the 17th-century originals.

05/11/2018
A Pair of Heart-on-the-Sleeve Concertos

A Pair of Heart-on-the-Sleeve Concertos

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine pairs Elgar and Bruch concertos on her new CD, inspired by Yehudi Menuhin. KDFC’s eNotes Newsletter offers a free Elgar movement download.

05/11/2018
A Snapshot of Operas in Progress

A Snapshot of Operas in Progress

West Edge Opera's Snapshot program showcases scenes from in-progress operas, including adaptations of historical figures and literary works. The initiative aims to promote new opera compositions.

05/11/2018
A Choral Exploration of Homelessness

A Choral Exploration of Homelessness

The Choral Project performs Street Requiem, a piece highlighting homelessness, in San Jose and Santa Cruz. Proceeds will aid local homeless charities.

03/27/2017