Ince's "Flight Box"

Synopsis

On today’s date in 2001, this music helped open a new art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The building was designed by Santiago Calatrava, and its roof looks a little like the wings of a large, graceful bird in flight—at least that’s the impression that composer Kamran Ince got viewing the new structure on several visits to Milwaukee.

Kamran Ince was born in Montana in 1960 to American and Turkish parents, and lived in Turkey between 1966 and 1980. Not surprisingly, elements of traditional Turkish music crop up in his original works, including the piece he entitled “Flight Box,” which was premiered by the Present Music at the new museum in Milwaukee. Ince notes that he himself flew between America and Europe some seven times while working on the new piece.

“Flight Box” is scored for three saxophones, two trumpets, two trombones, percussion, electric bass guitar, keyboards, violin, and cello. The performers are also asked to sing and speak occasionally, intoning words based on the sounds of the Turkish language.

Ince says he completed “Flight Box” early in 2001, months before the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Its October premiere, coming just one month after those traumatic events, added some sinister overtones to the work’s title, but Ince insists it was based on his own, far happier memories of flying, or, as he put it, “it’s the diary of a flight that SAFELY reaches its destination.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Kamran Ince (b. 1960) Flight Box Present Music Ensemble; Kevin Stalheim, cond. Present Music 6509

On This Day

Births

• 1896 - American conductor, composer and Eastman School of Music director, Howard Hanson, in Wahoo, Nebraska;

Deaths

• 1755 - French composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, age 65, in Roissy-en-Brie;

Premieres

• 1893 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 ("Pathétique"), at the Hall of Nobles in St. Petersburg, with Tchaikovsky conducting (Julian date: Oct. 16);

• 1915 - R. Strauss: "An Alpine Symphony," in Berlin, with the composer conducting;

• 1925 - Loeffler: "The Canticle of the Sun," for voice and chamber orchestra, at the Library of Congress Festival of Chamber Music in Washington, D.C.;

• 1931 - William Grant Still: Symphony No. 1 ("Afro-American"), by the Rochester (N.Y.) Philharmonic, Howard Hanson conducting;

• 1932 - Stravinsky: "Duo Concertante" for Violin and Piano, in Berlin at the Funkhaus, with violinist Samuel Dushkin and the composer at the piano;

• 1935 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 15, in Moscow;

• 1942 - R. Strauss: opera "Capriccio," in Munich at the Bavarian State Opera, conducted by Clemens Krauss, with vocal soloists Viorica Ursuleac (The Countess), Horst Taubmann (Flamand), Hans Hotter (Olivier), and Georg Hann (La Roche);

• 1943 - Martinu: "Memorial to Lidice," in New York City;

• 1952 - Elliott Carter: Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for flute,oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, in New York, by members of the New York Woodwind Quintet;

• 1955 - Bernstein: incidental music for "The Lark" (play by Jean Anoilh adapted by Lillian Hellman) at trial run in Boston at the Plymouth Theater; The show opened in New York City at the Longacre Theater on November 17, 1955;

• 1965 - Ned Rorem: "Lions" for orchestra and jazz combo, by the Detroit Symphony, Sixten Ehrling conducting;

• 1972 - Morton Feldman: "Pianos and Voices," in Buffalo, N.Y.;

• 2001 - Kamran Ince: "Flight Box," at the Milwaukee Art Museum, by the ensemble Present Music.