Chicago Symphony Orchestra trombonist Michael Mulcahy and principal tuba Gene Pokorny, both members of the Bienen School of Music faculty, will premiere Jennifer Higdon’s Low Brass Concerto with the CSO Feb. 1-3, 2018.
Mulcahy and Pokorny will be joined by CSO principal trombone Jay Friedman and bass trombonist Charles Vernon for the orchestra’s three Symphony Center performances under music director Riccardo Muti. A CSO performance in Carnegie Hall, New York, is scheduled for Feb. 9.
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon is one of America’s most acclaimed and frequently performed living composers. Her compositions have been called "the most inventive and substantive additions to American music in years" (The Baltimore Sun).
The CSO and the Philadelphia and Baltimore symphony orchestras co-commissioned Higdon’s Low Brass Concerto. In a recent Chicago Tribune article Mulcahy said of the new work, “The audience isn’t really (made) aware of the interplay and colors produced by the trombone choir, because we usually play a supporting role. So it’s good to have our voices, our instrumental dialogues, exposed in this way.”