The Utah Review – NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Reflections concert to feature three Andrew Norman works

Composer Andrew Norman’s fascination with architecture arises from his admiration for the fearlessness exhibited in some of the most innovative examples from the field. There are, of course, the creations of architecture’s two ‘Franks’ who have been represented in his music: Frank Gehry, now in his late 80s and Norman has had discussions with him, and Frank Lloyd Wright, who died two decades before Norman was born. More recently, he has been struck by the architectural designs of Elizabeth Diller, the founding partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro. This spring in New York City, The Shed will open as a new concept arts center that is the epitome of versatility when it comes to spaces for visual, theatrical and performing arts. The firm’s website indicates The Shed was inspired by an unrealized concept called the Fun Palace, which British architect Cedric Price and theater director Joan Littlewood created in the 1960s. Just days ago, the Royal Academy of Arts in London announced that Diller and colleague Ricardo Scofidio received the 2019 Royal Academy Architecture Prize.

Norman has cultivated a unique fearlessness in his own music that riffs ingeniously on the ideas of fun and play. Receiving Musical America’s top composer award honors two years, Norman has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Grammy nominee and Play, one of his large orchestral works, was named by National Public Radio as one of the year’s top recorded albums in 2015.

Photo credit: Jessa Anderson