JOHN LUTHER ADAMS Become Desert

IGOR STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

This is a night for mysteries and magic, as Alexander Shelley leads the NAC Orchestra and participants of the NACO Mentorship Program through some of the classical world’s most otherworldly music from both traditional and contemporary composers. 

Become Desert, by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams, is a sensory experience that will conjure the sprawling, shimmering beauty of a vast sea of sand. The warm sun rises, its tone and intensity changes throughout the day, and desert life comes and goes. The music evokes the movement of a beautiful but unforgiving landscape. 

For years, the narrative about the riot caused by the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in 1913 Paris was that the whirling dervish of music and choreography drove audience members to lose their minds. It’s almost a shame it’s not true. But make no mistake: Rite of Spring creates a cathartic, unruly, and beautiful musical world that will viscerally pull you in and keep you spinning long after the final note.