Between Islands: New Music for Chamber Orchestra and Voices – Saturday, July 19, 2025

Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts – Winter Park, FL

WINTER PARK, FL – The Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra (OCCO), led by Music Director Todd Craven, joins forces with Claire Hodge and the vocal ensemble VoxO for Between Islands, a compelling evening of new music for chamber orchestra and voices. The concert will be held on Saturday, July 19, 2025, at 8:00 PM at the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts in Winter Park, Florida.

This performance marks one of the first concerts in the newly opened Blue Bamboo venue and features works by nine living composers, including several based in Central Florida. The program centers on themes of loss, renewal, community, and connection.

Ethan Soledad’s Legacy Songs of Unity is the centerpiece—a sweeping, lyrical choral work written in 2024 that celebrates resilience, community, and the power of music to unite and heal.

Central Florida Composers Forum members offer deeply personal contributions:

  • Charles Griffin’s Between Islands (2025) reimagines his 2016 trumpet‑and‑audio work with meditative winds and ritualistic percussion, tracing grief’s transformation into memory and peace.
  • Troy Gifford’s The Night is based on the poem The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Francis William Bourdillon.
  • Alan Gerber’s sensitive setting of the traditional Irish blessing May the Road Rise to Meet You.

This program also includes:

  • Erich Barganier – Speaking in Tongues: Inspired by glossolalia and spiritual ecstasy, this piece explores fluid vocal expression and layered ensemble textures.
  • Saman Shahi – I HEARD A FLY BUZZ: A poignant SATB setting of Emily Dickinson’s poem emphasizing the fly’s “buzz” motif, silence, and stillness in death.
  • Maciej Bałenkowski – Comets: An early work (age 18) focused on expression, melody, and emotion, reflecting the composer’s fascination with the universe.
  • Robert Cohen – Connecticut Autumn: A choral‑orchestral setting of Hyam Plutzik’s poem, using autumnal imagery to explore aging, mortality, and passage of time.
  • Gerson de Sousa Batista – Babalon: A tribute to life, nature, and birth, inspired by the mother figure and celebrating creative origins.

These works span cosmic wonder, mystical ritual, personal reflection, and communal affirmation, offering a profoundly moving and varied evening of contemporary music.

Tickets are $30 and include an intermission.
Location: Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts, 460 E. New England Ave., Winter Park, FL
More Information: occo.music | voxomusic.org

Bending Lightward: New Music for Chamber Orchestra – Friday, June 27, 2025

Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts – Winter Park, FL

Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, directed by Todd Craven

WINTER PARK, FL – The Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra (OCCO), led by Music Director Todd Craven, will present Bending Lightward, a program of new music for chamber orchestra, on Friday, June 27, 2025, at 8:00 PM at Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts in Winter Park, Florida.

The concert features recent works by six living composers, each offering a distinct musical voice and approach:

  • Michael OlsonPrisms
  • Oleksandr ShymkoEcstatics
  • Alex BurtzosThe F-Word, featuring guest electric guitarist, Thomas Harrison
  • XY Mike ZhouRoundabout
  • Rebekah TodiaGolden Harvest
  • Han XuA Few Practices of Chinese Acoustic Justice

Among the highlights of the program is The F-Word by Alex Burtzos, a piece originally composed for ShoutHouse and premiered in New York City in 2016. Written during a difficult creative period, the work explores themes of artistic struggle and is performed here with electric guitar soloist Thomas Harrison.

Rebekah Todia’s Golden Harvest reflects on seasonal change and personal growth. As the composer notes, “Golden Harvest has less to do with crops, and more about our personal experiences… It’s a time to reconnect with loved ones and to share our journey of self-discovery.”

Other works on the program include Olson’s Prisms, which examines light and texture through sound; Shymko’s Ecstatics, a piece full of energy and motion; Zhou’s Roundabout, with intricate rhythmic interplay; and Xu’s A Few Practices of Chinese Acoustic Justice, which draws on cultural perspectives in sound and form.

OCCO & VoxO premiere two CF2 works along with several others on September 9 @ Pugh Theater

Experience the adventurous spirit and wide-eyed wonder of childhood through music as Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra partners with 16-voice sensation VoxO for “Through a Child’s Eyes.” This exciting concert features five world premieres that contemplate life’s joys and sorrows from a youthful perspective.

Let William Blake’s poetic ode “A Cradle Song” transport you to a place of innocence shielded from life’s harshness. Feel the liminal space between dreaming and waking in Ella Higginson’s mystical “Dawn.” Learn music’s magic alongside Robert Louis Stevenson’s whimsical verses. Marvel at the child-like visual poetry of e.e. cummings’ imaginary world where effortless love reigns in Charlie Griffin’s setting of who knows if the moon’s a balloon, rearranged specifically for VoxO at the request of their director, Claire Hodge. Grieve a child taken too soon yet find resilience in his spirit with Abby Henkel’s setting of Mary Craig’s elegiac “Perigee.” Dance with shorebirds on sandy shores through the playful lens of “Gymnopedie.” And wander in awe through a meadow’s symphony of shimmering lights. 

Under the direction of Todd Craven (OCCO) and Claire Hodge (VoxO), this imaginative program will be performed on September 9 at 8 p.m. at the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Experience choral music anew as “Through a Child’s Eyes” offers a kaleidoscope of perspectives, allowing you to reconnect to life’s beauty. 

HOMAGES: CF2 and OCCO at Harriet’s Orlando Ballet Center – July 29 at 7 pm

Don’t miss “Homages,” the inaugural concert of our 2023 summer series

Experience an electrifying night of contemporary classical music performed by the acclaimed Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra at Harriet’s Orlando Ballet Center on July 29th at 7 pm. The program features exhilarating performances by some of today’s most exciting local and national composers that confront generational tensions, pay homage to tango masters, and wrestle with life’s uncertainties.

Alex Burtzos‘ fierce “RAGE” channels the pent-up frustration of youth through driving metal rhythms. Troy Gifford‘s sensuous “Milonga Abandonada” lovingly embraces the spirit of Argentine tango. Ryan Homsey’s meditative “Music and Life Mingle” pays tribute to legendary film composer Richard Robbins. Cole Reyes’ kinetic “Sprint” is a frenetic tour de force. Jeremy Umlauf‘s poignant “Sisyphus” immortalizes the mythic Greek hero in music. And Jamie Wehr’s unforgettable “Where is John Galt?” featuring rising-star guest pianist Caroline Owen pays homage to Leonard Bernstein via the iconoclastic work of author Ayn Rand.

Don’t miss this one chance to hear some of the best musicians in Orlando tackle these bold new works for the chamber orchestra. Claim your seat today for a concert that will linger in your mind long afterward.

The ever-passionate and always-prepared Maestro Todd Craven will conduct the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra.

This series represents a cooperative effort between Performing Arts Matter, Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, and Central Florida Composers Forum.

OCCO’s amazing performers are:

Concertmaster: Julia Gessinger
Violin 2: Galen Kaup
Viola: Marla Morgan
Cello: Paul Fleury
Bass: Elliot MayFlute and Piccolo: Tammara Phillips
Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo: Tina Edelstein
Oboe: Charles McGee
Clarinet: Jessica Speak
Bass Clarinet: Keith Koons
Bassoon: Jazmin Skipper
Trumpet: Griffin Weber
Trombones: Joseph Vascik, Laurie Penpraze, Alex Regazzi
Percussion: Bryant Bernal, Madison Schafer, Paul Yorke