Peter Eötvös’ Violin Concerto Seven Makes US Debut with the St. Louis Symphony

Peter Eötvös’ moving violin concerto Seven sees its US premiere on January 21 and 22 at the hands of the St. Louis Symphony and violinst Akiko Suwanai, who premiered Seven in 2007 at the Lucerne Festival under the direction of Pierre Boulez. Written in memorial of the seven astronauts who died on board the Columbia Space Shuttle in 2003, Seven is paired alongside Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. Eötvös expounds on the significance of the number seven within the concerto:

Each of the seven astronauts has been given a personal dedication cadence. Even the representation of their characters is reflected in the composition, for example by reminiscences of the musical cultures of Kalpana Chawla, the India-born American female astronaut, and of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space.

The number seven determines the musical and rhythmic structure of the work, describing at the same time the basic principle of the composition: 49 musicians are divided into seven groups, and as well as the solo violin there are six further violins round the hall. They are like seven satellites or souls sounding and hovering in space.

For more information on Peter Eötvös please visit www.eotvospeter.com

For additional details on the St. Louis Symphony performance visit www.stlsymphony.org.

Peter Eötvös-Composer Profile.

Peter Eötvös
Seven (2006)
for violin and orchestra
3(1.afl, 2.3.pic)3.3.bcl.asax(bsax)3-2.2.2.1–4perc-elec gtr-hp.kybd-sampler-str
21’