Elgin Symphony Orchestra to commemorate composer Daniel Brewbaker at Nov. 4-5 concerts
At the Nov. 4-5 concerts, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, led by music director Andrew Grams, will honor Daniel M. Brewbaker, distinguished composer and Elgin native who died May 14 of this year.
The program includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, the ESO premiere of James M. Stephenson's Tributes for Violin and Orchestra and Aaron Copland's "Our Town." A slideshow featuring photo highlights from Brewbaker's life will run during the "Our Town" performance, also an ESO premiere.
"Daniel Brewbaker was a son of our town, Elgin. He remained connected to his hometown throughout his life, composing works for the ESO and other area organizations and maintaining close ties to several childhood friends in the area," notes ESO CEO David Bearden. "He is remembered not only as a talented and prolific composer whose music reflected his Midwestern roots, but as a kind and generous man that lived life to the fullest."
Saturday concertgoers are invited after the performance to "Mingle with the Musicians" at Bennigan's Elgin, off Route 31.
"Beethoven 7" concert tickets start at $30. Student tickets are $12. There is valet or free parking. For more information, visit ElginSymphony.org or call (847) 888-4000.
Born in Elgin in 1951, Daniel M. Brewbaker began studying piano and trumpet at an early age. In school, he was involved in many music groups and activities. He graduated from Elgin High School, where he was the president of his senior class. Brewbaker received an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, and held master's and doctorate degrees from the Juilliard School of Music. His first composition, "Psalm 39," premiered in 1970 at the University of Illinois, and was the first of nearly 60 works that establish him among great contemporary American composers. He was on the faculties of Juilliard, Hunter College, Queens College and Westminster Choir College. Further studies took him to Rome and other major European musical centers. His works were performed by leading artists in the great musical centers of the world.
His music has been called deeply spiritual, mystical, direct and melodic, echoing his Midwestern roots as well as a European influence. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra premiered Brewbaker's Concerto for Cello, "La Serenissima," in 1995 and it was later recorded by the New York Philharmonic's principal cellist Carter Brey. The concerto's final movement was performed at an Elgin Symphony Orchestra gala concert by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1999 as a special hometown recognition.
Brewbaker was the first American composer invited to compose a work for the legendary Kirov Orchestra and Chorus in St. Petersburg, Russia, and conductor Valery Gergiev led the premiere of his work, The Poet, in 1999. In 2004, he was commissioned to write a violin concerto for Russian violinist Vadim Repin. The 2005 premiere of the piece by Repin and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. garnered critical praise for Brewbaker's "flair for writing unabashedly beautiful themes." In 2014, his composition Sinfonietta per Sofia premiered at the Napa Valley's Festival del Sole. The work was commissioned to celebrate the film icon Sophia Loren, who attended the performance conducted by her son Carlo Ponti Jr.
Brewbaker received the Nadia Boulanger Award at the Ecole des Artes Americaines in Fontainebleau, first prize in the Lilli Boulanger International Music Competition in Paris, and an Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was elected in 2006 into the Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame.
Brewbaker composed works for the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, the DuPage Chorale and the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus. In 2003, he composed "Psalm 51" for the 100th anniversary of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Elgin, where his family had been lifelong members. In 2016, Brewbaker was inducted into the Elgin High School Alumni Hall of Fame. He was preceded in death by his parents Ruth C. and Daniel M. Brewbaker.