THE STORY BEHIND: Adams' "Tromba Iontana"

On April 15, conductor Sascha Goetzel and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra will present THE RITE OF SPRING with violinist James Ehnes.

Title: Tromba Iontana
Composer: John Adams (1947- )
Last time performed by the Rhode Island Philharmonic: This is a RI Philharmonic Orchestra premiere. In addition to two solo trumpets, this piece is scored for two flutes, two piccolos, two oboes, two clarinets, four horns, percussion, harp, piano and strings.

The Story: John Adams is best known to us for his award-winning 1988 opera, Nixon in China. Less well known is that Adams first came into public view through his orchestral music. After studying at Harvard with Leon Kirchner and serving as composer-in-residence at the Marlboro Festival of 1970, Adams moved to California in 1971. Following ten years of teaching, he became new-music advisor to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Together with conductor Edo De Waart, Adams created the New and Unusual Music series. Largely because of that series, Adams was appointed composer-in-residence to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra during the years 1982-85, and he also worked on projects with the orchestra of the San Francisco Ballet Company. The music of Adams gradually became known to the public through these collaborations.
       
Tromba lontana was one of a series of fanfares commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra to celebrate Texas’s 150th anniversary in 1986. The title, translated as Distant Trumpet or Trumpet in the Distance, comes from the composer’s placement of two trumpets in the back corners of the stage. Most fanfares are loud, brassy affairs, but the mild Tromba lontana is something of an anti-fanfare—in Adam’s words, “incredibly quiet, slowly moving, mysterious, almost ethereal.”

Program Notes by Dr. Michael Fink © 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Tickets start at $15! Click HERE or call 401-248-7000 to purchase today!