Esprit Orchestra presents Heat Efficiency

Program:
Nicholas Ma: new work* (2026)
Claude Vivier: Orion (1979)
Aziza Sadikova: Heat Efficiency** (2023)
Dieter Ammann: No Templates (Viola Concerto)*** (2024)
(Nils Mönkemeyer, viola)
Aziza Sadikova: Angelo di fuoco** (2022)
 
*World premiere, commissioned by Esprit Orchestra
**Canadian premiere
***North American premiere, co-commissioned by Esprit Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Lucerne Festival & Tongeyeong International Festival
 
Dieter Ammann’s No templates, as its title suggests, occupies a world of great freedom  and adapts wide-ranging musical idioms. Esprit brings the music of Uzbekistani composer Aziza Sadikova to Toronto for the first time with her Angelo di fuoco (Angel of Fire) which, influenced by the current unrest in the world, depicts her emotional concern  “hoping that the Angel will help us through his fight for justice…” Heat Efficiency, “a picturesque moment” commissioned for a climate/environment project, deals with mechanical sounds, technical aspects of heat and pipes and waves of heat. Ma’s work reveals a composer exploring new compositional directions in terms of techniques, orchestration and emotional effect. Orion, Vivier’s “eternal homecoming” and perhaps one of his most iconic works, conjures up enigmatic experiences such as “the impression that I am sitting still on an airplane; I remain in the same place and yet I go from Cairo to Kuala Lumpur.” To interpret this seemingly hallucinogenic phrase, the composer advises “Go and find out for yourself!”