watch / listen
Performance Highlights
Works include Muse of Fire by Alexis Alrich, DisArchitecture by Dave Hall, Quartet for Four Snare Drums by Kevin Bobo, Celestial Dance by Stefan Cwik, Toccata by Prokofiev, and Boom by Terry Longshore & Brett Reed.
Quartet for Four Snare Drums
A wonderful showpiece, Quartet for Four Snare Drums infuses elements of marching snare drumming into the concert paradigm, allowing the members of Orphic to showcase their unique, unified background in drum corps in a recital context.
Muse of Fire: Mvt III - Inferno
Composed by Alexis Alrich in 2015, Muse of Fire is one of our most popular pieces. Alrich was living in Beijing and Hong Kong at the time of its writing, and was clearly influenced by the music of the region. The pentatonic scale can be heard throughout, although it is not the only way that melody is derived in the work.
Musée
Kevin Bobo’s “Musée” is a programmatic work based on the composer’s trip to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The piece is presented in a series of vignettes which take the listener on a sonic journey through the museum. Impressionist influences such as Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen, and Satie can be heard throughout.
Toccata
This is a marimba duo arrangement of a standard solo piano showpiece, featuring huge leaps, quick interval changes, and challenging choreography, with some edits made for playability. Performed by Michael Downing and Cameron Leach.
Boom
Boom is a fun, entertaining, and virtuosic multi-percussion duet with nods to some of percussion’s greatest composers, namely Steve Reich and Iannis Xenakis. Rhythmic cells weave in and out of alignment, converging at important points and breaking apart for moments of creative improvisation. Performed by Stuart Langsam and Sean Clark.
Relics: Dances for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra
Shortly after its premiere, Relics was nominated by the San Francisco Classical Voice as “Best New Music Performance” of 2018. The piece, composed in 2017, was originally written for Orphic Percussion and the Sequoia Brass Quintet. Cwik later orchestrated the brass parts and expanded the percussion score to the version which is recorded here, featuring Orphic as soloists with Symphony Parnassus.