‘The orchestra is a constantly changing echo chamber’ - Premiere of the Month: Electric echoes

‘It was a completely new experience for me, dealing with an electric violin,’ says American composer Samuel Adams about his new work for six-stringed electric violin and string ensemble for the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO). The ACO’s artistic director, Richard Tognetti, commissioned the work shortly after a successful collaboration with the composer in 2018.

Alongside the electric violin and acoustic string orchestra, the piece also includes a six-stringed electric bass and a Moog synthesizer. ‘The piece is one long twelve-minute line that never breaks,’ Adams says. To create the ensemble’s part, Adams transcribed an electronically processed version of the solo violin line in his home studio. ‘The orchestra is a constantly changing echo chamber around Richard’s sound,’ he says…