Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Gabriel Kahane

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra 
with Gabriel Kahane

Saturday, April 20, 2013 . 8PM
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra photo by Ken Nahoum

Event Attributes

Presented By

Presented By: 
Estimated Length: 
Two hours, including intermission
Program Notes: 

American composer and singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s first composer-in-residence, combines his classical music training with modern folk-pop influences.

Often compared to Sufjan Stevens and Rufus Wainwright, Kahane has collaborated with both of these artists.

He will perform with Orpheus in a program that includes his very recent composition titled Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States plus Arnold Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night.

This performance is made possible in part by support from The MARPAT Foundation.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra served as artists-in-residence with the UMD School of Music in 2011-2012 and performed several times during the season.

Review by The Washington Post

Kahane is a likable figure who writes music that hides its sophistication beneath a veneer of likability. And this collagelike piece was studded with moments of fine orchestral writing…and the thoughtfully realized text-settings that are Kahane’s trademark…The problem was mainly one of presentation.

– ANNE MIDGETTE, The Washington Post, Sunday, April 21, 2013

Preview by The New York Times

“Gabriel’s Guide” journeys from California to New York, describing along the way the working class in San Francisco; the slave trade in Washington, D.C.; and the beauty of Oregon. While Orpheus plays his score, Mr. Kahane will sing and recite excerpts from the guides, accompanying himself on banjo and electric guitar. The piece is a travelogue geographically and historically…tieing mythic past to political reality in the same manner as the original American Guides.

– WILLIAM ROBIN, The New York Times, Friday, April 19, 2013

Profile of Gabriel Kahane by The Washington Post

Kahane is on a roll these days, rapidly becoming one of the most visible representatives of a generation of Brooklyn musicians who bring individual voices to many genres at once…His newest song cycle, “Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States,” the culmination of a residency with the conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, will be performed at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on April 20.

– ANNE MIDGETTE, The Washington Post, Friday, March 29, 2013

Resources from the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library

Our neighbors at the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library have compiled a list of available resources relevant to this performance:

Gabriel Kahane

Arnold Schoenberg

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra