Chicago Symphony premieres commission by Elizabeth Ogonek
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra recently premiered a commission by USC Thornton alumna Elizabeth Ogonek (MM ’12, Composition), who is serving a three-year term as composer-in-residence with the ensemble. Music director Riccardo Muti led the premiere of All These Lighted Things on September 28th, with performances to follow in Kansas City (Oct. 11) and Berkeley (Oct. 13).
The brass-heavy All These Lighted Things, subtitled “three little dances for orchestra,” was inspired by American poet, mystic, and Trappist monk Thomas Merton. The Chicago Tribune lauded Ogonek’s “inventive, even jazzy,” orchestral writing.