Since its 2003 inception, the Eos Ensemble has delighted audiences throughout Northern California with its innovative concerts.

On Sunday, October 18, 2015, this group will perform for “Music on the Hill” in a concert featuring fellow members of the SF Ballet Orchestra–violinists Craig Reiss & Mariya Borozina, violist Caroline Lee, and cellist Thalia Moore.

The special guest for the evening is internationally recognized composer and Principal Clarinetist of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, José González Granero. The Eos Ensemble will perform José’s composition Noche Del Amor Insomne (Night of Sleepless Love) for String Quartet.

We had a rare opportunity to talk to guest composer, José González Granero.

SFBO Musicians —  What drew you to become a composer?

JGG — I was first struck with the inclination to become a composer when I was around 10 years old after listening to pieces by Bach and Stravinsky. Those pieces opened my mind and I became fascinated by the process of creating. Afterwards, I enrolled in courses in harmony and counterpoint at the conservatory where I studied.

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SFBO Musicians — What pieces or other composers have particularly influenced you?

JGG — One of the pieces that most impressed me when I was younger was Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Then, I was drawn to Beethoven, Bach, and Mahler. The older I grew, the further my interests expanded and I started listening to more modern composers. To this day, I try to listen to new pieces as often as I can.

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SFBO Musicians — What can you tell us about your piece, Noche Del Amor Insomne, to be performed by the Eos Ensemble?

JGG — I initially based this piece (a string quartet) on a poem from an anthology by Federico García Lorca that was discovered in the 1980s. My piece, Noche Del Amor Insomnie, was written as a 2014 commission for the music festival Music in May and later won the Villiers Quartet New Works Competition in London.

At first, I was very intimidated about composing for string quartet. On the other hand, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to have my music performed by such accomplished musicians and a chance to further my experience as a composer. I worked hard to learn as much as I could about these instruments to help guide my composition. I also continued to listen to pieces by many great composers. Even then, about two months went by before I’d written the first note! Once I started, however, I really enjoyed this process.

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SFBO Musicians — What has it been like for you to work with the Eos Ensemble?

JGG — It is always a great pleasure to work with this incredible group. I first collaborated with the EOS Ensemble as a performer playing clarinet quintets. I really enjoyed it, and was later asked to compose a clarinet quintet myself. That was my first piece ever to be performed by a professional chamber group and also my first time writing for strings.

I learned so much during that process. My technique back then was very limited (resulting in a piece that sounded fairly traditional), but it got a nice review in the San Francisco Classical Voice. Thanks to that commission for the Eos Ensemble, I found the motivation to strive even further as a composer. I began taking private lesson with David Conte, Chair of the Composition Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Through him, I am learning to find my own voice and to improve my technical skill.

Other recent pieces include “3 Songs,” that were premiered by the great baritone– Adler fellow Efrain Solis, and which will be repeated on October 21, 2015 as part of the San Francisco Performances series. I have also written a piece Petite Suite for Brass Quintet and String Orchestra, which was a joint commission for the University of Granada Orchestra and the brass quintet Proemium Metals. As of today, I am still very far from my goals as a composer, but I am happy with the process of creation and inspired by how I must always strive to expand my mind.

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SFBO Musicians — Last, but not least, audience members at the SF Opera’s production of Lucia Di Lammermoor are in for a treat because you’ve actually composed the first act cadenza for harpist Olga Rakitchenkov. What can you tell us about that?

JGG — I am very honored to write something for such a great and beautiful player as Olga. I was asked by her to write something new, and I accepted.

It was a great process too because I got the chance to learn more about the harp and its writing. It has been a great joy listening to her playing something I wrote in the San Francisco Opera House.

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Eos Ensemble Performance Details

This exciting concert will include string quartets by the masters of French Impressionistic music: Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.

Program:

Debussy String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893)

• Debussy revolutionized the String Quartet with this work, imbuing it with new tonal colors, scales and effects evoking the paintings of Monet and Renoir.

“Noche Del Amor Insomne/Night of Sleepless Love” for String Quartet (2014) – José González Granero

• The work is inspired by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and evokes a haunting lyrical drama.

Ravel String Quartet in F (1903)

• Ravel used Debussy’s quartet as a model for his own masterful treatment of the form.

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Date, Location & Tickets

• Sunday, October 18, 2015 at 7:00 pm
• St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, 101 Gold Mine Drive (at Diamond Heights Blvd.), San Francisco, CA. 
• 415-820-1429
• Tickets — http://www.musiconthehill.org/tickets
• See official announcement — http://www.musiconthehill.org/concerts

 

Video: ‘Light & Hope’ – Music by José González Granero

To illustrate José’s versatility as a composer, here’s a piano piece that he composed for dance. This piece, Light & Hope, was directed and choreographed by Kevin Jenkins for dancers Alysia Chang and David Maurice.

To learn more about José González Granero, and to hear some of his other compositions, visit http://www.josegonzalezgranero.com.

Related Links

• Official website for the Eos Ensemble — http://eosensemble.com
• Eos Ensemble on Facebook — Eos Ensemble Fan Page