To create it, Henry recorded an array of real-world soundsвЂ“from cloth being torn to a manвЂ™s speaking voice invoking Zeus to the playing of a harpsichordвЂ“then transformed them into an aural parallel to an abstract expressionist painting, vivid and visceral.Дa Camera presented the 15-minute work via a recording that the late Henry himself sent the group in the 1990s, Rothenberg explained in her program note. HenryвЂ™s Veil of Orpheus II turned the same confrontation between man and Underworld into a sonic phantasmagoria. At the piano, Aucoin also captured the musicвЂ™s aura of emotions, digging into his keyboard part with a vigor and fullness that helped make up for the absence of instrumental colors. His voice surged, exuding masculine resonance, as the operaвЂ™s hero proclaimed, вЂњI am Orpheus!вЂќД«ut when the protagonistвЂ™s anguish took hold, DiamondвЂ™s tones grew hushed. Diamond, an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, fleshed out the spacious but fervent aria with a generous helping of melismas, rapid-fire repeated notes and other embellishments that heightened OrpheusвЂ™ emotions. The MacArthur Award-winning composer also pitched in at times as pianist and conductor.ДЄucoin launched the concert by accompanying baritone Mark Diamond in вЂњPossente spirto,вЂќ the plea by MonteverdiвЂ™s Orpheus for entry to the Underworld. Aucoin brought along two excerpts from his work-in-progress Eurydice, which Los Angeles Opera will premiere in 2020 with Costanzo. The programвЂ“co-curated by young composer Matthew Aucoin andВ Da Camera artistic director Sarah Rothenberg and featuring star countertenor Anthony Roth CostanzoвЂ“embraced not only the past but the future. The iconic tale, so beloved of real-life composers across centuries, supplied the unifying thread of Da CameraвЂ™sВ concertВ Tuesday night. Claudio MonteverdiвЂ™s LвЂ™Orfeo and HenryвЂ™s work both spring from the Greek myth of the musician who traveled to the Underworld in hopes of retrieving his deceased wife. The final chord of a passionate Monteverdi aria cut off and before Da CameraвЂ™s audience at HoustonвЂ™s Menil Collection had time to applaud, wham! The silence was blasted away by the opening salvo of Pierre HenryвЂ™s The Veil of Orpheus II, a pioneering work of 1950s musique concrete. The head-on collision of styles could not have been more violent. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo joined Da Camera for a concert at the Menil Collection in Houston Tuesday night.

Orpheus band members