Grantee News: Orchestra 2001

MFS is proud to support Orchestra 2001 this year. O2001 is joined by the husband-wife team of composer Dr. Justinian Tamusuza and leading African ethnomusicologist, Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza this season. The two share a cross-continental, virtual/live composer residency from Uganda, East Africa. ENGOMA ENTEERA will culminate with a final concert at the Cathedral Basilica Saints Peter and Paul at 7:30pm on Friday, June 14, 2024; a noon dress rehearsal and panel discussion earlier that week will be live-streamed with audiences in Kampala, Uganda. Orchestra 2001 will be led through this performance by the young Philadelphia conductor Na’Zir McFadden, currently Assistant Conductor of the Detroit Symphony.

Justinian was trained in both Kiganda (Ugandan) folk music and Western classical music, receiving his doctoral degree in composition at Northwestern University. He will compose several new pieces for Orchestra 2001’s musicians, using extended instrumental techniques, microtones, and polyrhythms that marry contemporary classical music and traditional Kiganda folk music.

Executive Director Adam Lesnick first commissioned Justinian to write a woodwind quintet for a tour to Kenya and Tanzania in 1994, a piece now played by groups all over the world. He also commissioned a solo horn piece based on African hunting horn traditions and premiered it at the International Horn Society Conference in Capetown, South Africa, in 2006.

The culmination of this series is not to be missed. Be sure to check back for info on tickets at: Orchestra 200