Adam Schoenberg - Losing Earth: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble
November 11, 2022
Bienen School alumnus Jacob Nissly ’05 and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble present the world premiere of Losing Earth: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble by Adam Schoenberg. Mallory Thompson conducts.
Dark, Fiercely Strong, and Relentless
Delicate and Airy
Beast Mode
Nissly is principal percussionist of the San Francisco Symphony. The wind arrangement of this concerto, originally written for the San Francisco Symphony, was commissioned by Mallory Thompson and Northwestern’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
Percussion is at the heart of the concerto because, as Schoenberg explains in his original program notes, it is an element that traces its history back to the beginning of time. “With the ability to make rhythm, keep time and create melody, drums were a way for our ancestors to communicate love and joy, danger and survival,” Schoenberg wrote. “Second only to the human voice, this instrument has watched the earth endure all of its phases, including the devastation that is now beginning to emerge because of global warming.”