OCCO

Celestial Light: New Music for Choir, Brass, Timpani & Organ

Presented by Voices of Orlando, Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, Central Florida Youth Chorus, Central Florida Composers Forum, and Performing Arts Matter

Sunday, September 14, 2025 | 2:00 PM | Cathedral Church of Saint Luke | $30 Suggested Donation

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Orlando, FL — On Sunday, September 14, audiences are invited to step into the glow of Celestial Light, a concert of music that explores radiance, memory, and transcendence. Performed in the soaring space of the Cathedral Church of Saint Luke, this collaboration brings together Voices of Orlando, members of the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, organist Michael Petrosh, and the Central Florida Youth Chorus under the direction of Julie Simmons.

The program features a blend of choral and instrumental works by living composers, including local Central Florida Composers Forum members William Ayers, Charlie Griffin, and Enrique Ynaty. Together with music by Jonathan Dove, Mark Kilstofte, Pasquale Tassone, Michael Petrosh, Jacob Lack, and Julianna Hinton, the concert offers a rich palette of sound, from shimmering stars to solemn reflections to jubilant praise.

Highlights include:

  • O quam dulcis by William Ayers — evoking the comfort of a warm library on a cold day, as singers voice words of wisdom discovered among the shelves.
  • The Crown of Joy by Charlie Griffin — a moving homage to J.S. Bach for choir, organ, and timpani.
  • Lux Aeterna by Enrique Ynaty — a luminous meditation on eternal light.
  • four o’clock in the afternoon by Julianna Hinton — a powerful new work preserving the testimony of Armenian Genocide survivor Guleeg Haroian.
  • Everyone’s Voice by Mark Kilstofte — setting Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry, reminding us that “the singing will never be done.”
  • Flight Paths by Jacob Lack — inspired by Malcolm Arnold, a buoyant piece that imagines planes dancing across the sky.
  • Lauda Anima Mea Dominum by Pasquale Tassone — a majestic setting of Psalm 145 for choir, organ, brass, and timpani.

With brass quintet, timpani, organ, and two local choral groups, Celestial Light celebrates music’s power to lift us, comfort us, and connect us.

Celestial Light
Sunday, September 14, 2025 | 2:00 PM
Cathedral Church of Saint Luke
130 North Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL
$30 Suggested Donation

Presented by Voices of Orlando, Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, Central Florida Composers Forum, Central Florida Youth Chorus, and Performing Arts Matter.

More info: occo.music | voxomusic.org | cfcomposers.org | pamatter.org
For press inquiries: 321-303-1404

By Charlie Griffin, ago

Songs of the Hispanic Diaspora II

Sunday, August 24, 2025 | 7:30 PMTimucua Arts Foundation

Join us for an evening of rich language, expressive music, and vibrant cross-cultural collaboration, where poetry and composition meet in a shared celebration of the Hispanic diaspora.

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The Central Florida Composers Forum (CF2) and Open Scene Orlando return to Timucua Arts Foundation for Songs of the Hispanic Diaspora II: a powerful continuation of last season’s collaborative celebration of Latin American poetry and contemporary music, in collaboration with musicians from the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra (OCCO) and VoxO, and presented by Timucua Arts Foundation and Performing Arts Matter.

This second installment features all newly penned works by local composers setting iconic poems by remarkable poets from Nicaragua, Cuba, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Featuring texts by Rubén Darío, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, José Martí, Alfonsina Storni, César Vallejo, Gabriela Mistral, and Vicente Huidobro, the concert pairs expressive new music with readings and cultural commentary, creating a rich, bilingual artistic experience.

Composers:
Troy Gifford · James Hall · Eric Heumann · Gerald Law II · Keith Lay · Mark Piszczek · Paul Austin Sanders · Bob Walker, Jr.

Performers from OCCO, VoxO, and CF2:
Keri Lee Pierson (soprano)
Emily Heumann (mezzo-soprano)
Julia Gessinger (violin)
Kristine Griffin (piano)
Troy Gifford (guitar)

Poems will be recited in both Spanish and English by Charlie Griffin (OCCO/CF2) and Thamara Bejarano, with cultural context provided by Bejarano (Open Scene Orlando).

The evening’s program brings to life the words of celebrated Latin American poets, each reimagined in new musical settings by composers from Central Florida. These vivid, contemporary interpretations, featuring combinations of voice, piano, guitar, and violin, create an intimate and expressive tapestry of sound and verse.

NICARAGUA
Rubén Darío’s Sonatina, set by Gerald Law II for mezzo-soprano and guitar, opens the program with a dreamlike portrait of a young princess longing for a life beyond her royal surroundings.

CUBA
Al partir by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda is a poignant farewell to Cuba, filled with longing and sorrow, and is set by James Hall for soprano and piano. Orlando maverick composer Keith Lay offers a bold setting for soprano and piano of José Martí’s iconic Yo soy un hombre sincero, a powerful declaration of honesty, openness, and personal resolve.

ARGENTINA
Alfonsina Storni’s Dulce tortura is a stirring depiction of conflicted desire and emotional complexity. Eric Heumann sets this poem for mezzo-soprano and piano, revealing both its sensuality and its quiet anguish.

PERÚ
In Los Heraldos Negros, César Vallejo gives voice to deep spiritual and existential pain. Paul Austin Sanders’s setting for mezzo-soprano and piano draws out the poem’s dark gravity and unanswered questions of suffering.

CHILE
Gabriela Mistral’s Hallazgo, a lyrical discovery of love, is set by Bob Walker Jr. for soprano, mezzo, and guitar, striving to capture the poem’s brief, luminous intimacy. Two works by Vicente Huidobro close the program: Días y noches te he buscado…, a symbolic search for truth and selfhood, set by Mark Piszczek for mezzo-soprano and piano; and Altazor, Canto I (fragment), an excerpt from Huidobro’s avant-garde masterpiece, set by Troy Gifford for soprano and guitar, evoking themes of flight, dislocation, and transcendence.

CF2 champions the creation and performance of new music by Central Florida composers, while Open Scene fosters artistic exchange across cultures and disciplines, amplifying the voices of Latin America. This shared vision makes Songs of the Hispanic Diaspora II a resonant and meaningful artistic gathering.

By Charlie Griffin, ago

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

Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts – Winter Park, FL

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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

By Charlie Griffin, ago

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

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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 (Central Florida Composers Forum member), featuring guest electric guitarist, Thomas Harrison
  • XY Mike Zhou – Roundabout
  • Rebekah Todia – Golden Harvest (Central Florida Composers Forum member)
  • 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.

By Charlie Griffin, ago