BOSTON, MA (For Release 05.04.26) — Hailed as “the firm champion of contemporary American music (Classical Voice North America),” the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) presents a free Father’s Day concert on Sunday, June 21, 2026, at NEC’s Jordan Hall. Quickly approaching its 30th year, BMOP continues to champion American music of the last century. Led by its intrepid artistic director/conductor Gil Rose, BMOP programs an invigorating evening of new orchestral works by American composers: John Aylward’s potent History of the World, Avner Dorman’s cello concerto Inner Fire featuring internationally heralded cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper, Miami Variations by Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Moravec, and Symphony No. 5 “Africa” by Bernard Rogers.
“As the premier ensemble in the United States dedicated to the performance, commissioning, and recording of American orchestral music, we remain steadfast in our commitment to the full spectrum of classical repertoire from the past century. We enter this June concert with the same spirit that has guided us for almost three decades. We are proud to present the premieres of four diverse works by American composers this season.” - GIL ROSE, artistic director/conductor of BMOP
The program includes two world premieres by composers who call the Northeast home. The music by Massachusetts-based Clark University professor John Aylward (b.1980) has been described as “delicate and deep, all at once (The Boston Globe),” and “mysterious, iridescent and daring (Gramophone).” His new 26-minute orchestral work History of the World commissioned by BMOP is part of Aylward’s broader repertoire exploring history, science, and myth, reflecting on humanity’s shared past and future. Israeli composer Avner Dorman (b.1975) currently serves as Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music in Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Also commissioned by BMOP, his latest concerto Inner Fire was written for cello virtuoso Kristina Reiko Cooper. Dorman explains: “When Kristina Reiko Cooper and I began discussing this concerto, we found ourselves drawn to the metaphor of fire—not just as a destructive force, but as something deeply human and transformative. Fire provides warmth and comfort, it can rage out of control, and it exists within us as a source of energy and spirit. The Hebrew words neshima (breath) and neshama (soul) share the same linguistic root, and practices like Tummo meditation generate inner heat through focused breathing. This connection between breath, fire, and transformation became the guiding principle for the work's five-movement structure.”
The evocative Miami Variations by Paul Moravec (b.1957) receives its New England premiere following its Palm Beach Symphony world premiere earlier this year. According to the South Florida Classical Review, it takes “a four-note theme on a 10-minute journey through lustrous string writing, angular wind episodes, brass fanfares and a contrapuntal sequence to a stirring conclusion.”
Also marking its New England premiere is Symphony No. 5 “Africa” by Bernard Rogers (1893-1968). An Eastman School of Music professor who taught more than 700 composers, Rogers’s output as a composer included more than 25 large orchestral works, including his five symphonies. This performance of his fifth symphony is part of BMOP’s multi-year project committed to recording all five of Rogers’s symphonies (to be released on BMOP/sound).
About Gil Rose
Gil Rose is one of today’s most trailblazing conductors, praised as “amazingly versatile” (The Boston Globe) with “a sense of style and sophistication” (Opera News). Equally at home performing core repertoire, new music, and lesser-known historic symphonic and operatic works, “Gil Rose is not just a fine conductor, but a peerless curator, sniffing out—and commissioning—off-trend, unheralded, and otherwise underplayed repertoire, that nevertheless holds to unfailingly high standards of quality. In doing so, he’s built an indefinable, but unmistakable, personal aesthetic” (WQXR). A global leader in American contemporary music, Grammy Award-winner Rose is the founder of the performing and recording ensemble the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), who “bring an endlessly curious and almost archaeological mind to programming…with each concert, each recording, an essential step in a better direction” (The New York Times), as well as the founder of Odyssey Opera, praised by The New York Times as “bold and intriguing.” GilRoseConductor.com
About BMOP
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is the premier orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A unique institution of crucial artistic importance to today’s musical world, BMOP exists to disseminate exceptional orchestral music of the present and recent past via performances and recordings of the highest caliber. Founded by Artistic Director Gil Rose in 1996, BMOP has championed the repertoires of composers whose careers span nine decades. Each season, Rose brings BMOP’s award-winning orchestra, renowned soloists, and influential composers to the stage of New England Conservatory’s historic Jordan Hall in a series that offers orchestral programming of unrivaled eclecticism. Musical America’s 2016 Ensemble of the Year, BMOP was awarded the 2021 Special Achievement Award from Gramophone Magazine as “an organization that has championed American music of the 20th and 21st century with passion and panache.” The musicians of BMOP are consistently lauded for the energy, imagination, and precision with which they infuse the music of the present era. BMOP.org.
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BMOP IN CONCERT | PREMIERE4
Sun June 21, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. | NEC’s Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street, Boston)
Tix: Tickets are FREE. Advance registration is required. Register by visiting BMOP.org or calling 718.324.0396.
Gil Rose, conductor
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Kristina Cooper, cello
JOHN AYLWARD History of the World (2026) world premiere
AVNER DORMAN Inner Fire (2026) world premiere
Kristina Cooper, cello
PAUL MORAVEC Miami Variations (2025) New England premiere
BERNARD ROGERS. Symphony No. 5 “Africa” (1959) New England premiere
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