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 Olson – Prisms
- Oleksandr Shymko – Ecstatics
- Alex Burtzos – The F-Word, featuring guest electric guitarist, Thomas Harrison
- XY Mike Zhou – Roundabout
- Rebekah Todia – Golden Harvest
- Han Xu – A 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.