Pit Stop Players to Present World Premiere from Jonathan Tunick

The Pit Stop Players, the genre-defying instrumental chamber group composed of veteran Broadway pit musicians, will shed light on three new works at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music's Cary Hall, 450 West 37th Street, on Monday, May 13, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

"ILLUMINATIONS"

Monday, May 13, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Cary Hall, 450 W. 37th Street, New York, NY

TICKETS: $25 ($15 for Students) www.smarttix.com/Event/pitBE3

rosenblummusic.com/pit-stop-players

Headlining the program is the American premiere of Kevin Lau's "Illumination," a Double Concerto for Piano, Percussion, and Strings, featuring brothers Garah Landes (piano) and Greg Landes (percussion), known collectively as the duo Synchronicity. "Illumination" is one of a very small number of works in the concerto genre that features piano and, in this case, fifteen different percussion instruments.

"It's going to be electrifying," says Pit Stop founder and music director Joshua Rosenblum. "It's a unique layout, with the piano and all that percussion out front, and these two virtuoso performers-who also happen to be brothers-going wild with all the gear accompanied by a string orchestra. We've never done anything like this before, and I'm certain our audience has never seen anything like this before!"

The third movement of "Illumination" is titled "Einstein's Dreams," and was inspired by Alan Lightman's bestselling novel of the same name. By coincidence, Rosenblum, also inspired by Lightman's novel, has adapted "Einstein's Dreams" as a musical theater piece. Prospect Theater Company will present the musical's Off-Broadway debut this fall at 59E59 Theaters. To complement Lau's piece, Rosenblum created a concert suite from his "Einstein's Dreams," incorporating themes from his musical.

The concert will open with the world premiere of legendary Broadway orchestrator Jonathan Tunick's "Serenade for Strings."

"I'm honored to be able to present Jonathan's wonderful composition," Rosenblum said. "He's a living legend as an orchestrator, and hearing his original music will be another kind of illumination."

The concert also includes a suite of movements from various pieces thematically connected by the concept of Time: Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time," Robert Rodriguez's "Musica por un tiempo" (which was directly inspired by the Messiaen piece), and Robert Muczynski's "Time Pieces" for clarinet and piano. Stravinsky's neoclassical masterpiece, "Concerto in D for String Orchestra" concludes the program.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos