Carnegie Hall Premiere

Composer Andy Teirstein, whose newest CD, "Open Crossings," was just released on Naxos Records, has a world premiere at Carnegie Hall. A student of Leonard Bernstein, Teirstein is an award-winning composer (NEA, NYFA, ASCAP) who draws on the folk roots of modern culture for inspiration, composing works for banjo, harmonic and string quartet, or a viola concerto based on Rumanian folk tunes.

The piece to be premiered, “The Shooting of Dan McGrew,” is a narrated chamber work for six instruments, premiering at Carnegie Hall on December 13th, at 2PM. It's based on the Robert Service poem, which begins:

A bunch of the boys were whoopin' it up in the Malamute Saloon
The kid that handles the music box was hittin' a jagtime tune
Back of the bar in a solo game sat Dangerous Dan McGrew
And watching his luck was his light o' love, The Lady that's known as Lou. . .

The piece will be performed by the Alaria Ensemble and guest musicians, and will be narrated by Broadway actor David Lutken (Will Rogers Follies, The Civil War, Ring of Fire).

Without the imaginative commissions of Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, we wouldn’t have Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” or Ravel’s “Bolero.” Who knows whether Beethoven would have been able to sustain a career in music without Prince Lichnowsky? These people invested in promising composers, recognizing the immeasurable value of the creation of new music.

According to the Meet the Composer commissioning guidelines, the commissioning fee for this piece is $10,000. I'm hoping to raise $3,000 toward that fee here.

In recognition of your support of $100 or more, your name will appear on the first page of the score, and in the program:

“Commissioned by….”

Please consider supporting the arts. Commissioning new music puts musicians to work and stimulates the economy by attracting audiences, and getting people out into pre- and post-concert restaurants. And besides all that, it is an adventure.