The LSCO’s opens its season with a spotlight on trumpeter Thomas Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer, Associate Professor at UMD. We have selected repertoire to showcase Tom’s great versatility as he solos on three different instruments: piccolo trumpet, standard trumpet and flugelhorn. German classical composer Johann Hertel, mid-twentieth century French composer André Jolivet, and contemporary American composer Richard Peaslee.

This concert features a short chamber opera by NYC composer Wang Jie entitled It Rained on Shakopee. The work springs from the composer’s interest in the experiences of female prisoners and is supported by the Shakopee Women’s Correctional Facility and grants from the McKnight Foundation and New Music USA. Wang Jie writes: “A first of its kind, chamber opera “It Rained on Shakopee (working title)” unites two otherwise unrelated Minnesota communities to channel the voices from inside the fence to the public.

Duluth-based fiddler and singer/songwriter, Gaelynn Lea Tressler will premier a new work for string orchestra with herself as soloist. Last spring Gaelynn Lea gained national attention as winner of the NPR’s 2nd annual “Tiny Desk Concert.” Born with osteogenesis imperfecta – or brittle bone disease – she is also an ardent advocate and eloquent spokesperson for the disability community. Tressler conceives the five-movement work as an exploration of disability issues, a plea for disability rights, and a celebration of disability pride. She will be aided in the orchestration of this work by Duluth composer/arranger Bradley Bombardier. Students of the Quartet Project will join the strings of the LSCO for this premiere.

Thursday, August 3, 7:30 pm