The American Romanian Festival celebrates its 20th-anniversary season with an evening of works centered around the subject of travel and different geographic locations. First on the program is the recently commissioned piece by Ionica Pop, Impressions from Romania, reflects through music the joy of celebration and the need for human communion and peace. In The Seven Dreams of Frida Kahlo for Clarinet and String Quartet, composer Ovidiu Marinescu takes us on an imaginary journey of dreams, from Mayan ritual dances, to mariachi music, to be-bop jazz—which Frida Kahlo heard in New York in her travels with partner Diego Rivera, to an Arabic dream, as well as a pagan dance of Russian character. Steven Reich’s Different Trains for String Quartet and pre-recorded performance tape, expresses the basic idea that carefully chosen speech recordings generate the musical materials for musical instruments. The piece is inspired by the composer’s childhood when he travelled back and forth by train frequently between New York and Los Angeles from 1939 to 1942. While the trips were exciting and romantic at the time Steven Reich is looking back as an adult realizing that if he had been in Europe during this period, as a Jew he would have had to ride very different trains.

The American Romanian Festival celebrates its 20th-anniversary season with an evening of works centered around travel that’s sure to cure the wanderlust in us all. First on the program is a recently commissioned piece by Ionica Pop, Impresii din România, that reflects the joy of celebration and the need for human communion and peace through music. In The Seven Dreams of Frida Kahlo for Clarinet and String Quartet, composer Ovidiu Marinescu takes us on an imaginary journey of dreams, from Mayan ritual dances to mariachi music to bebop jazz—which Frida Kahlo heard in New York in her travels with partner Diego Rivera—to an Arabic dream and pagan dance with Russian flair. Lastly, Steve Reich’s Different Trains for String Quartet and Pre-Recorded Performance Tape expresses the basic idea that carefully chosen speech recordings can generate musical materials for musical instruments. The piece is inspired by the composer’s childhood: When he was only 1 year old, Reich’s parents separated. His mother moved to Los Angeles while his father remained in New York. He traveled back and forth by train frequently between New York and Los Angeles from 1939 to 1942, accompanied by the governess. Different Trains is a reflection of Reich’s realization that as a Jew, had he been in Europe during those years, he easily could have been riding a very different kind of train.