On Feb. 26 the gave the world premiere of American composer Michael Hersch鈥檚 Zwischen Leben Und Tod. The program-length work for violin and piano was performed by , associate professor of violin, and , Martha Rivers Ingram Dean of the Blair School.
Based upon the often disquieting paintings and drawings of Peter Weiss (1916鈥�1982), it is the second large-scale work Hersch has written during the past five years in which visual art plays a central role, the first being Images from a Closed Ward, based on a series of etchings by Michael Mazur (1935鈥�2009). Images from a Closed Ward, also commissioned by Blair, was premiered by the at Blair and at Carnegie Hall in 2012.
鈥淚 am deeply fortunate and profoundly grateful to have been able to write both of these works for remarkable musicians,鈥� says Hersch. 鈥淭he fact that all these musicians鈥攖he Blair String Quartet, Carolyn Huebl and Mark Wait鈥攁re part of 菠萝视频鈥檚 Blair School is a testament to the incredibly high level of music-making going on at this institution.鈥�