Play

About

This concert, titled "PLAY," represented a significant artistic milestone for Esprit Orchestra, featuring the largest assembly of musicians in the organization's history to date. The programming focused on large-scale orchestral works that push the boundaries of instrumental theatre and sonic texture. The centerpiece was the Canadian premiere of Andrew Norman's Play, a "kaleidoscopic 45-minute symphony" that explores the concept of play through video game logic ("Levels 1, 2, and 3") and furious musical ricochets. The production also featured the Canadian premiere of Thomas Adès's Tevot, requiring 79 musicians with an expanded wind and percussion contingent, creating a distinct soundscape. The title Tevot references both musical bars and the biblical ark, evoking a vessel carrying notes through chaos. Completing the program, John Rea's Zefiro torna—an Esprit commission—draws on Petrarch and Monteverdi to offer textures of sensuous beauty that balance the tumult of the other works.