George Crumb, a celebration

Free and open to the public without ticket!

Presented by The Swarthmore College of Music and Dance and Chamber Orchestra FIRST EDITIONS The program includes his two very last works:

Metamorphoses II, for solo piano
performed by Marcantonio Barone

Kronos – Kryptos, for percussion quintet
Area Premiere

Our concert on Sunday evening Oct. 23, 7:30 PM, Lang Concert Hall, will be shared with Swarthmore College’s Dept of Music. Swarthnmore’s half features Marcantonio Barone playing Crumb’s Metamorphoses II for solo piano. The piece was written for Tony, and he has recorded it for Bridge Records. Like George’s Metamorphoses I, it is inspired by iconic 20th- and 21st-century paintings, including in this case works by Picasso, van Gogh, Chagall, and Dali. 

COFE’s half of the concert will consist of Crumb’s Kronos-Kryptos in its area premiere, for five percussionists playing a stage-full of instruments from all over the world. James Freeman will be conducting the five percussionists who are: Angela Zator Nelson. William Kerrigan, David Nelson, Brenda Weckerly, and Phillip O’Banion. 

The two works on this program are the very last ones Crumb wrote.

The concert will celebrate George’s long life (1929-2022), his extraordinary music, and his close relationships with these players and especially with Swarthmore College. We are all still grieving George’s passing – it is the end of an era for many of us – but it is time now to remember a great man, a great composer. and a great friend to so many of us.