The Next Festival String Orchestra Featuring Seth Parker Woods

Two-time GRAMMY nominee Seth Parker Woods, “a cellist of power and grace” (The Guardian), joins The Next Festival of Emerging Artists for a program of breathtaking scope showcasing the finest in contemporary music. Founder and Artistic Director Peter Askim leads a string orchestra composed of some of the world’s foremost early-career string players in the world premiere of three new commissions: Essay #1: Leave the People — a searing exaltation of Black American Music by four-time GRAMMY nominee Curtis Stewart — and new works by Askim and GRAMMY-winning trumpeter and composer Michael R. Dudley.

The evening concludes with Herencia, a deeply personal ode to hybrid cultural identity by composer-cellist Andrea Casarrubios and the East Coast Premiere of the shape-shifting Ire: Concerto for Cello, Strings, and Percussion by Rebecca Saunders with Woods as soloist.