The past two years have held a number of milestones for Bangor Symphony Orchestra music director Lucas Richman. He and his family moved to Bangor permanently in 2014. He turned 50. And earlier this year, he got to do something any contemporary composer only dreams of: He recorded a full album of his own compositions with a world-class orchestra.
“In Truth,” featuring three of Richman’s long-form compositions conducted by the composer himself and recorded with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, was released Sept. 1. The title track, his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, will be among the first pieces performed during the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 120th season kickoff concert, “The New World.”
The concert, set for 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, at the Collins Center for the Arts, offers up a program that’s equal parts contemporary and classic. “In Truth” premiered with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in 2013, with pianist Jeffrey Biegel as soloist. Biegel will perform with the BSO this weekend, as well.
“It was written for [Biegel], with whom I’ve had the opportunity to work before … and he’s been on the forefront of getting new American composers to write work for piano and orchestra,” Richman said. “It’s one of those once in a lifetime things, for a relatively unknown composer to be featured on an album with a major symphony orchestra.”
“In Truth” is one of just a handful of piano concertos written by American composers in recent decades. Richman’s piece is themed around the idea of truth: being true to oneself, being true to one’s world and the people around you, and being true to one’s spirit. It’s deeply influenced by Richman’s mentor, Leonard Bernstein, and by his long history as a composer for film.
“I wanted to include that cinematic element, but it’s not sappy film music,” Richman said. “It’s very traditionally classical, but it’s very accessible.”
The other two pieces on the program highlight that blend of classic and contemporary: the 1970 work “Pioneer Dances,” by composer Peggy Coolidge, herself a summer resident in Maine later in life, and Antonin Dvorak’s iconic masterwork, Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” Richman is committed to showcasing works that go beyond the classical standards, bringing in works by women and minorities and new works as well. It’s deeply American: diverse, genre-spanning and, often, very fun.
“When we sit down in the concert hall, we approach the music with all our own experiences,” Richman said. “Almost no one lives in a bubble where you have this pure aesthetic, only having heard music by dead, white, male, European composers. We all perceive it in a different way. And as an American, that’s the melting pot. … That’s why it’s important, to me, to showcase diverse voices and new works.”
The rest of the 120th BSO season holds plenty of new things as well, such as a season-ending semi-staged production of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” featuring a full cast and a chorus with the Bangor Area Children’s Choir, University of Maine Singers and the Oratorio Society. In October, Richman and several other BSO members will be featured in three intimate, free performances during ARTober, the city of Bangor’s month of the arts, at Nocturnem Drafthaus in downtown Bangor, including BSO percussionist and composer John Mehrmann at 7 p.m. Oct. 13, the Ceolta Cello Duo featuring BSO cellists Marisa Solomon and Noreen Silver at 7 p.m. Oct. 20, and Richman himself on piano with guest vocalist Joelle Morris, singing French chansons and Broadway show tunes at 7 p.m. Oct. 27. For more information and for tickets to the Sept. 27 concert, visit bangorsymphony.org.
