The Pleiades, commission for orchestra and chorus

Eriks is in Chicago this week to hear his new work The Pleiades, commissioned by the Grant Park Music Festival. Performed by the Grant Park orchestra and chorus and conducted by Carlos Kalmar, the multi-movement work takes the Pleiades star constellation as its theme, and uses stories and myths from native American culture. See more about this at Eriks own website here. It is not the first time the stars and sky have fascinated him: the piece called Stars has become a staple of many choirs concert programmes, and in recent years the Nordic Light multimedia symphony has enjoyed success.

The Grant Park Festival coincides with this year’s Chorus America convention in Chicago, and Eriks will take a seat as panellist on a discussion entitled Creating Music in Challenging Times. Following his time in Chicago Eriks will go on to St John’s Newfoundland, Canada to be part of the Podium on the Edge: Singing from Sea to Sea to Sea convention.

Eriks website is www.eriksesenvalds.com