On December 14, pianist Sung-Im Kim joins the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh for the world premiere of Nancy Galbraith’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Commissioned by the orchestra, the three-movement, 18-minute work was written for Kim, who has previously performed the composer’s music. Edward Leonard conducts the premiere.
Edward Leonard comments. “We are delighted to work with Pittsburgh artists, and Nancy Galbraith is an established composer well known all over the country. I have always loved working with her and chose her for this commission because I knew that she would present a genuine and beautiful piece for our audience.”
Galbraith offers some insight into her new concerto. “This new premiere very much fits into my larger body of work. It makes use of a lot of percussion, and a harmonic/melodic vocabulary that has become a predominant characteristic of my style. The outer movements are rhythmically driven. I set out in this work to make use of the harp combining with the 
piano to create interesting textures. This is most notably true in the middle movement, which is where I began composing the work. I wanted this movement to sound like a surreal dream. It makes use of lush melodies and a floating theme which is stated in the piano and passed through the orchestra. This movement makes use of many harmonics in the strings and harp, as well.“I have worked with Edward Leonard and the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh in the past. Edward is a wonderful conductor. He has great programming ideas and is always looking for new horizons, commissioning a lot of music, and making interesting programming choices. I very much look forward to collaborating with these musicians once again.”
More Galbraith: On December 7 and 8, the Shenango Valley Chorale performed the composer’s O Magnum Mysterium.