Rep Hub
SNO's home for substantial works by emerging composers, featuring SNO's commissioned repertoire.
Mark Fromm | Andrew Boss | Nicole Murphy | Jonathan Russell | Andrew Posner | Martha Horst | Natalie Draper | Nicholas Bentz
Andrew Boss
“The unyielding music in the Toccata soon merges with the slower music from the beginning to make a final powerful orchestral climax.”
Alto Saxophone Concerto
The Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra is a large two-movement work intended to introduce a highly innovative, uniquely challenging, and genuinely musical approach to modern saxophone writing. Written for Jordan Randall Smith, Sean Meyers, and the east coast’s newest ensemble Symphony Number One, it combines the musical virtuosity of the saxophone with a very actively responding orchestra, resulting in an intense musical experience created through the intricate and equally essential dialogue taking place among the players. The first movement begins dramatically and sets the pensive and melancholy mood of the opening. The saxophone introduces the main material, which binds the piece and develops through several soloistic cadenzas. The mood from the beginning transforms into an uplifting resolution through a powerful crescendo. A final cadenza segues into the more upbeat Concertante, which further develops the musical material while adding rhythmic complexity and dynamic interest. The movement ends on a cathartic wash of sound by the entire orchestra.
The second movement combines elements of musical contrast with instrumental tambours bound by an underlying theme first introduced in the clarinet in the Dialogue. This section contains a pastoral undertone which then leads to a highly-energetic Toccata. The unyielding music in the Toccata soon merges with the slower music from the beginning to make a final powerful orchestral climax. The music then settles and resolves into a peaceful and transcendent finale bringing back previously heard material.
REP HUB
Mark Fromm | Andrew Boss | Nicole Murphy | Jonathan Russell | Andrew Posner | Martha Horst | Natalie Draper | Nicholas Bentz
The piece is scored for:
- flute
- oboe
- clarinet
- bassoon
- horn
- 2 percussionists
- piano
- 2 violins
- 2 violas
- cello
- double bass
Press
Smith, Tim (September 29, 2015). "Symphony Number One opens season promisingly with Mahler, new sax concerto." The Baltimore Sun.
Lundquist, Tiffany (February 11, 2016). "Symphony Number One Announces New Album and Concert Tour".
About Andrew
The music of Andrew Boss is widely acclaimed for expressing its creative voice, offering captivated listeners “something that has never been heard before.” (Florida Music Teachers Association). His musical language is encapsulated in a “fundamentally tonal, often vividly spiced language”(Baltimore Sun). Currently residing in Austin, Texas, Mr. Boss is pursuing his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) as the 2013-14 Recruitment Fellow under the tutelage of Dan Welcher and Donald Grantham.
Mr. Boss has enjoyed many performances by the nation’s leading ensembles. The premiere of his first symphony, Tetelestai (2014), by the University of Texas (UT) Wind Ensemble under Jerry Junkin was an enormous success; its many performances throughout 2015-16 include its College Band Directors National Association premiere in February 2016 at the Southern Division Conference in Charleston by the Kennesaw State Wind Ensemble and its Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference premiere in September 2016 by the Sydney Conservatory Wind Ensemble. He recently enjoyed his debut with the Dallas Winds in February 2016 with his new piece, Millennial Inception. His Divertimento for Piano and Saxophone Quartet received its North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) premiere by the Resurgence Quartet and the composer in February 2015. Mr. Boss has recently enjoyed a critically-acclaimed world premiere of his Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Small Chamber Orchestra (2015) by Baltimore-based chamber orchestra, Symphony Number One, and is considered as one of their founding composers. He is currently writing an orchestral work for a commission with UT’s symphony orchestra.
Mr. Boss has been the recipient of many awards in his academic career as a composer, including the Virginia Carty Delillo Composition Award for the finale movement of his Symphony for Quintet, the Florida Young Artist Award from the Florida State Music Teachers Association (FSMTA), and The Johns Hopkins career development grant. Mr. Boss received his Master of Music in Composition in 2013 under the tutelage of Dr. Kevin Puts at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. He has been a part of several notable festivals, including the 2013 Norfolk and Bowdoin Music Festivals. He also served as the program director for the New Music Conflagration (NMC) for their first concert series in 2013-14.
For more information about Andrew and to hear some of his music, visit andrewboss1.com.
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