In the NFM Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra’s concert programme, film music will meet minimalism and contemporary works inspired by dance, movement, and popular culture. The programme will feature works by Bernard Herrmann, John Corigliano, Jessie Montgomery, and John Adams – American composers who, in various ways, shaped the artistic landscape of the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The evening will open with Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho Suite, based on motifs from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Although the director was delighted with the tension and drama the score brought to the film plot, the collaboration between the two artists was not always without conflict. Hitchcock initially refused to have Herrmann compose the score for the famous shower murder scene. However, the latter insisted. The piercing, violent strings accompanying the sequence have become one of the most iconic moments in cinematic history. The master of suspense later admitted that as much as one-third of the impact of his film is due to the music. John Corigliano is one of the most distinguished contemporary composers on this side of the Atlantic. In 1999, he composed the soundtrack for François Girard’s The Red Violin. It tells the extraordinary story of the titular instrument, which changes hands over four centuries. The film takes viewers from Cremona in 1681, through Vienna in the late 18th century, Oxford in the 19th century, Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, and Montreal at the end of the 20th century. Because the violin is the protagonist, Corigliano entrusted it with a solo performance – played on the soundtrack by Joshua Bell, whose virtuosity significantly contributed to the music’s success. The score won an Academy Award and remains one of Corigliano’s most important achievements in this field.

Strum is one of the most popular works by composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery. The piece was based on a quintet written in 2006, and the composer has reworked and expanded it several times over the years. Its driving force is the characteristic pizzicato figures performed by the strings, as well as a dense network of rhythmic ostinatos. Montgomery draws inspiration from American folk music and the element of dance and movement, leading the listener from a mood of nostalgia to an increasingly energetic, even ecstatic celebration. The final element of the concert programme will be John Adams’s Shaker Loops. Adams is one of the most renowned composers of modern music. The piece was written in 1983 based on an earlier work, Wavemaker, which referred to the movement of waves. In Shaker Loops, he developed the idea of obsessively repeated, short motifs, creating a pulsating, energetic sonic texture. The title refers both to the characteristic trembling of the strings and to the Shaker community, whose religious ceremonies were often accompanied by lively, rhythmic dances.