Nicholas dedicates April to the Aurora Orchestra in two characteristically eclectic projects. Collon and the Orchestra first perform on 5 April at Kings Place when they premiere New York composer Missy Mazzoli’s double-bass concerto Darkness with Excessive Light, a co-commission with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. This concerto is rooted in Baroque idioms, but swirls with brooding intensity and relentless momentum. While Mazzoli’s music is very much the sound of the moment, it also harks back to the classical greats; she cites Beethoven as her ultimate musical love, and the Aurora Orchestra pair her concerto with Beethoven Symphony No.8.
Later in the month, Nicholas and his orchestra tour to Singapore with their Music of the Spheres programme, which they will soon record for Deutsche Grammophon. Performing with violinist Pekka Kuusisto, they present a programme of Mozart Symphony No.41 ‘Jupiter’, David Bowie Life on Mars, Thomas Adès Violin Concerto and a new work by Max Richter.