Trey Anastasio Premiering Classical Piece ‘Petrichor’ on Three City West Coast Run

Trey Anastasio will premiere Petrichor, an ambitious new piece for guitar and orchestra, on a three-city West Coast run this fall.  Petrichor will have its world premiere on September 9 at Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, where Anastasio will be joined by the Oregon Symphony. He will perform with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall on September 11 and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on September 26. Scott Dunn of the L.A. Philharmonic, who partnered with Anastasio on his 2012 orchestral tour, will conduct all three performances. The program will also feature orchestral versions of songs by Phish and from Anastasio’s solo repertoire.

“It’s always exciting to perform with an orchestra. When I get a handshake or a nod of the head from the concertmaster at the end of the show, it just gives me chills,” says Anastasio. “I try to bring pieces that are going to be challenging and fun to play – pieces that spotlight the level of musical elegance that’s capable with an orchestra, that’s only capable with an orchestra.”

Named for the scent the ground gives off after the season’s first rain, Petrichor celebrates the process of rebirth and transformation that a storm sets in motion.

“I love the concept that beautiful gifts come often wrapped in not-so-beautiful packages,” explains Anastasio. “The idea of a storm coming through – it’s a little scary and it’s a little dark, but after it’s over it leaves this beautiful scent of renewal. Sometimes a big storm is exactly what you need.”

Anastasio began composing Petrichorin November of 2012, while at rehearsals for the Broadway opening of Hands on a Hardbody, which heco-wrote the music for. In his spare moments, he began working out the melodies, using his iPhone to capture hundreds of voice memos. Over the course of two years, that early inspiration evolved into an intricate, thought-provoking opus. Anastasio will perform as a member of the orchestra, on electric guitar. Petrichor was orchestrated by Don Hart, who has collaborated with Anastasio on numerous classical projects.

 

The fall concerts are the latest in Anastasio’s series of performances with major U.S. symphonies. The New York Times hailed his Carnegie Hall performance with the New York Philharmonic as “that rarest of rarities, a classical-rock hybrid that might please partisans from both constituencies” and The Washington Post praised his sold-out Kennedy Center performance with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) as “a really good time,” noting the ecstatic reaction it evoked from both the audience and the orchestra.

 

 

Trey Anastasio – Fall 2014 Orchestral Dates

 

9/9       Portland, OR               Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall with the Oregon Symphony

9/11     Seattle, WA                 Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony

9/26     Los Angeles, CA        Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic

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