"The Boston Modern Orchestra Project inaugurates a series of operas by composers of color with Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, which includes notable improvised solos by trombonist David Harris, a member of the Jazz Composers Alliance."
Our world has never been louder. The screeches and honks of traffic, the deafening roars of jet turbines and rapid-fire staccato of jackhammers, and our headphones and speakers turned up to maximum volume to block it all out: in every area of life, there is an unprecedented variety of loud noises. In other words, there’s a lot of competition for the not-so-humble pipe organ, which before the Industrial Revolution held the twofold titles of humanity’s most complex machine and the loudest sound many Europeans could expect to hear within their lifetimes.
BOSTON — It has been a theme of this troubled time: If the pandemic has ruined your big birthday party, simply celebrate a year (or two) later. The Boston Modern Orchestra Project — BMOP, universally — turned 25 last April. But this unique, invaluable ensemble, which under its founding conductor Gil Rose offers performances and crucial recordings of contemporary scores and long-ignored, often American music from the past 100 years, only got the chance to make merry earlier on Friday, with a sprawling free concert here at Symphony Hall.