Allentown Symphony to show ‘Innovation’ in New Chamber Music Concert at DaVinci Center

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown Symphony Orchestra will kick off its New Chamber Music Concert series with a performance in the Da Vinci Science Center, it was announced.

The concert, “Innovation,” will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 28 in Da Vinci’s Curiosity Hall — “a fitting venue for the theme of innovation, invention and technology,” Allentown Symphony Association said in a release.

Tickets, at $10, are available at Miller Symphony Hall website and at the hall box office at 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. They’re also expected to be available at Di Vinci Center door at 815 Hamilton St., Allentown.

Admission is free for students 21 and younger.

The concert will showcase original innovative compositions by primarily local composers, featuring any combination of string quartet (violin I, violin II, viola and cello) and two additional instruments for a few added innovative elements (percussion and electric bass).

Compositions will include those from the 10 finalists of the symphony’s Call for Scores program, chosen by Symphony Composer-in-Residence Clarice Assad and Symphony Music Director and Conductor Diane Wittry.

The winners are Andrew Ardizzoia, Benjamin Miller, Bernard Walasavage, Bettina Gray, Sami Seif, Ric DelNero, Sean OBoyle, David Dawson, Daniel Hagenbuch and Erin Busch.

Each composition, limited to about five minutes or less, was required to include a full score, individual parts for musicians and an MP3 recording.

Some composers also included detailed notes for musicians and an innovative visual element.

‘Music at its most adventurous’

In addition to the new works, the concert will feature an entirely improvised piece by Assad, performing alone using innovative technology.

The concert also will feature a work for solo viola by noted composer Anne Clyne.

Da Vinci Center’s Curiosity Hall has a 3,000-square-foot screen — 58 feet wide and 53 feet high — onto which visuals will be projected behind the musicians “to bring these original compositions to life,” the release said.

“This season will offer a new kind of listening experience, where each work explores uncharted creative territory —weaving cutting-edge technology with acoustic instruments,” Assad said.

“Incorporating electronic soundscapes and visual elements, introducing newly invented instruments, and reimagining the concert experience through unconventional formats.

“This is contemporary chamber music at its most adventurous: a celebration of what happens when tradition meets experimentation.”

 The concert will be the first of two New Chamber Music Concerts this season. The Spring concert, America 250!, will be 7 p.m. March 24 at a location to be determined.