Orlando J. García: prohibido
Program note by the composer
In the spring of 2022, I was very fortunate and humbled to receive the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award was presented based on my 3rd string quartet. Shortly after receiving the award and upon reflection and discussion with my mentor Chinary Ung, I decided to create a new work for string orchestra using the 3rd string quartet as a point of departure. Instead of an arrangement or version of the same composition for expanded instrumentation, the new work is a recontextualization of the previous work achieved by adding to and completely varying the original material. Not unlike Berio’s approach to Chemins IV which can be understood as a very different presentation of his oboe sequenza employing the addition of 11 strings and new material, my work includes references to the quartet but in new juxtapositions, densities, and layers with much additional new material, this while utilizing the resources of the larger string ensemble.
Given the theme of the concert that it was premiered in and the request by the performers, the quartet is titled, I Never Saw Another Butterfly. This title is a reference to the book of drawings and poetry by children in the Terezin concentration camp that they created during the Holocaust. As with the string quartet, the new work also includes commentary on social injustices through its title (prohibido/prohibited) and text I wrote in both English and Spanish to be recited quietly by the performers, further contextualizing the work. The text alludes to many of the reasons used to repress those that are different/not in power (race, language, religious beliefs, etc.) in essence prohibiting them. The use of recitation, singing, humming, etc., by instrumentalists found in prohibido is a technique I have utilized effectively in several of my works. As with the quartet, the new piece has a similar duration of 20-25 minutes and is scored for a modest-sized string orchestra.
An additional layer of meaning to the work is provided by the choreography for two dancers being realized by the very talented dancer/choreographer Ariel Rose from the Miami City Ballet. The more recent addition of the choreography resulted in the subtitle, “Scenes from an imaginary ballet,” considering that the choreography came after the work was nearly completed. The New World Symphony Orchestra, for which the work was written, will be premiering the work with the ballet at a concert taking place on January 26 in their concert hall, the New World Center in Miami Beach. As a result of the Walter Hinrichsen Award, the work is being published by CF Peters.