Guest conductor shines light on new music in Sarasota Orchestra concert

The first time Lina Gonzalez-Granados conducted “Lumina” by rising star composer Nina Shekhar, it was last summer at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, with jets flying overhead and picnicking patrons making too much noise during the work’s significant silences.

A shame, since the work, which debuted in 2020 at Thornton Hall on the University of Southern California campus (the composer’s alma mater), has been attracting plenty of attention. The Los Angeles Times reported that it has been added to the New York Philharmonic’s program of Beethoven and Mozart for the orchestra’s tours to Germany and Vail, Colorado.

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In Los Angeles, Gonzalez-Granados had paired “Lumina” with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.” In Sarasota next weekend, it will open the “Luminous Colors” Masterworks program that will include Bruch’s Violin Concerto, with South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.

“‘Lumina’ in certain ways for me is like the central piece that made me put the other pieces in conversation with one another,” said Gonzalez-Granados, guest conductor for the symphony. “With ‘Lumina,’ it’s not a direct piece, it’s not a presentation or literally light presenting itself. It’s a phenomenon of something that is born, which is light, is brightness. Bruch and Dvorak represent the journey, different ways to interpret light, brightness and darkness, and how the composers apply that to their own journeys in composition.”

Gonzalez-Granados, a native of Colombia, met Shekhar in 2019 at the California home of composer and musical mentor Gabriela Lena Frank, who had invited the conductor to meet with “a couple of young composers who had important commissions, just to talk about pieces that were in sketches. They presented me their music, presented me with what they are about. I just went there: this could work, this could not work. I was able to hear pieces that are now in the repertoire,” she said.

“I started seeing (Shekhar’s) pieces and ‘Lumina’ fit my season in general,” the conductor said. “She is an extraordinary, fantastic musician. We have talked about the technical aspects of the piece, but in the end she likes me to take risks with the piece.”

It will set nicely against Kim’s performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto, written in 1868, and the Dvorak Symphony No. 7, composed in 1885, said Gonzalez-Granados.

“The Dvorak 7 starts with the D minor (and) travels through all these keys and rhythms until he is finding something joyous and triumphant. That is one way to see light in one light. The darkness is the absence of light. The same with the Bruch.”

Gonzalez-Granados was mentored by the late Bramwell Tovey, who died earlier this year at age 69, just as he was about to begin his first season as music director for the Sarasota Orchestra.

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“Bramwell was one of the biggest supporters of my career,” she said. “Wherever he went, he wanted to open the door for me. He called my manager and said, can Lina come to Sarasota? That was his way of sharing his love for music and love for me. Now for me going to Sarasota will be even more poignant because it will be my homage to him.”

Gonzalez-Granados, who is based in Philadelphia, has also recently accepted a post as resident conductor for the LA Opera. She made her conducting debut in 2008 with the Youth Orchestra of Bellas Artes in her hometown of Cali, Columbia. She studied composition at The New England Conservatory and Boston University.

Kim won the 62nd ARD International Music Competition and was a prize winner of the Tchaikovsky International Competition. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in February 2019 and recently signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

Luminous Colors

Sarasota Orchestra Masterworks, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2-3; 2:30 p.m. Dec. 4, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets $37-$99. 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Orchestra mixes classics with new work in Masterworks concert