What the glut?

There are entirely too many new music happenings in Philadelphia tonight, and it's my involvement as a performer in one of them that will keep me from attending the others.

Starting tonight, the Philadelphia Orchestra welcomes David Robertson as guest conductor, and he will lead Thomas Adès' Violin Concerto, "Concentric Paths," with Leila Josefowicz as soloist. I heard Ms. J give a riveting performance of John Adams' Violin Concerto several years ago, and would love to hear Adès' music live. The rest of the concert (Vaughan Williams, Sibelius and Scriabin) doesn't sound half-bad either.

Also tonight, The Crossing, a new music-centric chamber choir about whom I've written before, gives the second concert in their "Month of Moderns" series, featuring a world premiere by Kirsten Broberg and works by Stucky, Holten, and several European composers unknown to me.

And now for why I won't be able to attend either of these shows: I'm singing with the Choral Arts Society at a benefit concert honoring David Ludwig with the 2009 Leadership in Choral Music Award. Ludwig is a very talented composer, a good interview, and a regular attendee of other Choral Arts concerts. We're performing a handful of his works, including some very fun Hebrew settings.

I'll be able to redeem myself in the coming weeks: concerts by Relâche and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society (presented by Ars Nova) have been penciled into my agenda for some time now.