Commissioned by our classmate Roger Arvid Anderson as part of his Concerto Initiative project, the world premiere of Andres Martin’s VOX Concerto for Violincello (known to most of us as simply cello) featuring Amos Yang, cello, was presented by the Pioneer Valley Symphony at the Tillis Performance Hall, Bromery Center for the Arts in Amherst, MA on March 19, 2022.
In a recent communication to the Class of ’68 Class Committee, Roger provided additional background information: Andres Martin is Argentine but lives in Tijuana where he is the principal bass with the regional orchestra. He is also the world’s leading composer for the bass. His Bass Concerto #1 has entered repertoire for bass and is used in many competitions as the piece the bass players must perform for the judges. I met him when he attended a bass camp in San Francisco in 2019. He was already acquainted with my Concerto Initiative project. He handed me his phone and played something new he was working on. Wow was it powerful and I was hooked! In July of 2020 I commissioned him to write a concerto for cello and orchestra with the theme of Vox Clamantis in Desserto, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness. In light of those words, I asked him to respond musically to the turmoil and isolation of the COVID pandemic. The Vox Concerto has 3 movements and the 3rd movement incorporates an Argentine dance form called the milonga, whose joyous nature he confounds with the tragic drama of the pandemic. The concerto is around 35 minutes long. It is melody friendly and a roller coaster of emotional swings. I sincerely believe the world has a new masterpiece on its hands.
Listen to the VOX Concerto:
Video recording funded by the
class of 1968
THE CONCERTO INITIATIVE (Spring 2022)
PROJECT SPONSOR:
Funded and administered by Roger Arvid Anderson, of San Francisco. Project honors musicians and music patrons that have enriched Mr. Anderson’s life as well as the music community of Dartmouth College over the last 50 years.
PROJECT MISSION:
To commission concerti a half-hour in length for regional size orchestras. In an effort to win back audiences lost by atonal music, the concerti must show an inventive and compelling use of melody. In the last 50 years no new concerti for violin and cello have entered repertoire. It is our hope to remedy that with new and melody friendly concerti.
PROJECT HISTORY:
The Concerto Initiative was started in 2013 by Roger Arvid Anderson. It’s first project was the Metropolis Concerto for Violin and Wind Ensemble. The composer was Richard Marriott and the melodies were drawn from his film score for the silent film epic Metropolis by Fritz Lang. The concerto was workshopped by the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble in 2014, followed by its premier on February 20, 2015 in Hanover, New Hampshire. The Metropolis Concerto is now (2022) being scored for violin and full orchestra at the request of 2021 Sphinx winner, Samuel Vargas of Venezuela.
PROJECT COMPOSERS:
Andres Martin, Richard Marriott, Noah Luna, Alisa Rose, Michelangelo Rodriguez
PROJECT ADVOCATES:
Samuel Vargas, violin, winner of the 2021 Sphinx competition for young Latinx and African American soloists. He has asked us to develop a repertoire of melody friendly concerti which he can introduce to young audiences.
FISCAL SPONSOR:
The “Concerto Initiative” is an official project of the New York Foundation for the arts (NYFA), a nonprofit service that acts as a fiscal sponsor. This means any charitable contributions made through NYFA for the Concerto Initiative meet the 501c3 standards of the IRS for tax credits. The NYFA website is: https://www.nyfa.org
PAST & CURRENT PROJECTS: