Songs of Innocence and Experience

Kensington Sinfonia, Calgary's premiere string ensemble, opens the season with delights from childhood. Starburst, by Jessie Montgomery, is an explosive short work about the chewy, sour candy we all know and love. Valencia, by Caroline Shaw, is the first bite of an orange, juice dripping down your chin.

The third piece, Josef Kim's Cello Concerto in A minor, was written for his friend, cellist Curtis Fok. The two friends entered the Kensington Sinfonia Concerto Competition and won with this incredibly emotional neo-Romantic work. We are honoured to be premiering this piece, and fostering the next generation of Albertan talent.

Tchaikovsky's lush Serenade for Strings rounds out the program. For Tchaikovsky, this piece was a masterclass in composition as play. “I’m sketching a symphony or string quintet just now; I don’t know where it’s going yet,” he told his confidante Nadezhda von Meck.

Host or Publisher Kensington Sinfonia