January 25, 2019

Chamber Music Northwest commissions Chris Rogerson to write a clarinet quintet for David Shifrin and the Dover Quartet.

Chamber Music Northwest commissioned Chris Rogerson to compose a clarinet quintet for the Dover Quartet and clarinetist/CMNW artistic director David Shifrin. Originally, Rogerson thought the work might be based on Italian dance forms, but it took a very different shape. Here is how Chris described the inspiration for his work:

“Thirty Thousand Days was composed in the first half of 2017. my father, ever the statistician, prefers to think of life as a 30,000-day journey, divided into three equal stages. When my sister and I reached our 10,000th days soon after turning 27, he excitedly called to make sure we knew the milestone we had reached. With a sharp memory he recounted stories of his own 10,000th and 20,000th days. While we were amused by his enthusiasm for this seemingly random day, I came to realize the value of looking at life from a broader perspective. Thirty Thousand Days explores this idea of life’s three stages. In the first movement, I try to evoke the joy, innocence, and sweetness of youth. the second movement depicts struggle, coldness, and fury. Finally, the last movement imagines acceptance, resignation, loss, and love. In each movement, I constantly change the musical material so that no motive or moment is ever repeated; it is always evolving. While e may have memories, we can never again truly experience how things were.

“Thirty Thousand Days is dedicated to my father.”

Thirty Thousand Days world premiere performances were held on July 24 and 25, 2017 at Reed College Kaul Auditorium and Portland State University Lincoln Performance Hall.


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Chris Rogerson Awarded 2022 Stoeger Prize from Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

“We are personally delighted that this year’s Stoeger jury has selected Chris Rogerson as the 2022 recipient of the prize,” said CMS Artistic Directors Wu Han and David Finckel. “Chris’s music embodies all that we look for in the works of today’s chamber music composers: genuine inspiration; knowledgeable and skillful instrumental writing; a combination of immediate appeal and intriguing challenge which invites further hearings; and very importantly, a true sense of the very nature of chamber music as an art form of dialogue between equals. In addition, Chris has proven to be very much a ‘performer’s composer’ in that so many fine players have asked for works from him. Their advocacy and passion, combined with new music of real quality, is what truly drives our art form forward.”
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