FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington’s spring Community Orchestra concert features the premiere of “Phantastische Sonate,” a new composition by Philip Carlsen, composer and UMF professor of music, with piano soloist Steven Pane, pianist and UMF professor of music. The performance, conducted by Carlsen, begins at 7:30 p.m., on Saturday, April 26, in Nordica Auditorium, UMF Merrill Hall. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and free for children and UMF students with I.D.
Carlsen’s one-movement piece is a musical collage, which places Beethoven’s last piano sonata in a dream landscape of excerpts from orchestral works by Beethoven and other composers. The program also includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 99, Debussy’s “Children’s Corner Suite” and Copland’s “Quiet City.”
In a special event at 6:30 p.m., preceding the UMF Community Orchestra concert, Pane introduces and performs the piece at the core of Carlsen’s composition, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32, Opus 111. This performance is included in the concert admission.
Carlsen’s music has been performed by a variety of ensembles in Maine and around the country. Highlights include “Evening’s Sabres” for the Manhattan Marimba Quartet; “Maine Traveler’s Advisory” for the Kennedy Center; “A Dark Pine’s Hand” and “Rowing in Eden” for the Portland Symphony Orchestra; “The Garden” and “Night Thoughts” for the UMF chorus and “Holly and Ivy,” a full-length Christmas ballet written for the Bossov Ballet Theater.
At UMF, Carlsen has written works for the chorus and orchestra, incidental music and songs for Theatre UMF productions of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Tempest,” and “Distance” and “Proximity” for brass quintet for the inauguration of UMF president Foster in October. Carlsen is also known for his automobile orchestra pieces, which have become an annual tradition at UMF.
Carlsen has received fellowships from the Maine Arts Commission, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the National Endowment for the Arts as well as a residency at the MacDowell Colony.
