Back to the Future

Double bassist Jeffrey Turner, and Conductor/Artistic Director Maria Sensi Sellner had the privilege of talking with WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham about Missy Mazzoli’s brilliant Dark with Excessive Bright, the rest of the Back to the Future program that it inspired, and how they see classical music moving forward.

Listen now to the Voice of the Arts podcast!

A program like this weekend’s Back to the Future is created around the spark of an idea. For me it usually comes as the catalytic combination of a musical work, a specific artist, and just the right timing. When I discovered that Missy Mazzoli, one of the most exciting and innovative composers in the world right now, wrote a double bass concerto that premiered less than a year earlier, I immediately emailed Jeff Turner about it, and the match was lit! The pandemic extended the timing bit more than anticipated from that initial conversation back in January 2019, but after a 20-month delay, we now feel even more honored to present Dark with Excessive Bright, making Pittsburgh one of the handful of American cities to experience what the Chicago Classical Review called "the finest double-bass concerto of the past fifty years."

Back to the Future features Pittsburgh premieres of works inspired by past musical traditions from around the world by four of today’s most important living composers: Missy Mazzoli, Chen Yi, Jessie Montgomery, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Get to know these amazing creators, and make plans to join us IN PERSON on November 13 & 14 at the Greer Cabaret at Theater Square!