A programme of American music takes us from the Biblical beginnings of time to the end of the world in the Apocalypse of a post-Hiroshima nuclear age. Aaron Copland's tender re-telling of the Creation story from the Book of Genesis is a choral showpiece and a much-loved landmark of 20th-century choral music, while The Desert Music contemplates the aftermath of nuclear war in music full of Steve Reich's signature shimmering, mirage-like chords and driving pulses. In between come three characteristically beautiful and richly-scored works by charismatic American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. With the dazzling virtuosity of instrumental ensemble Endymion and the 麻豆社 Singers, and rising young mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, this concert brings the work of three of the most important figures in modern American music to the Milton Court platform.
