World Premiere • New Jersey Symphony Orchestra • Rodríguez’ A Metaphor for Power • Edward T. Cone Composition Institute

The NJSO and Princeton University Department of Music are well positioned to provide emerging composers with a comprehensive Institute experience that will enhance their careers. The NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute is an unparalleled experience for four emerging composers to hear their music performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and participate in in-depth sessions with industry experts. Ivan Enrique Rodríguez and his piece A Metaphor for Power were selected to be feature in this years’ 2019 institute. The NJSO, under the baton of world renowned conductor Cristian Măcelaru, will give the world premiere of Rodriguez’ piece. The concert will take place at Princeton University’ historic Richardson Auditorium this Saturday July 20th, at 8:00pm.

“We hold these TRUTHSto be SELF-EVIDENT, that all men are createdEQUAL, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This is how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence reads… In our present-day (year 2018), this sentence invites us, and certainly myself, to think about our experience in this nation, The United States of America. It is unquestionably evident that the present-day of the American experience is governed by a perceivable, and unceasingly growing inequality. From the abysmal separation of social classes, to the renaissance of the historical but silenced racial discrimination. “A Metaphor for Power,” a title chosen from a James Baldwin quote, is a musical essay that attempts to address the present turbulence of ideologies, dreams and hard-hitting realities. The piece unfolds as an expedition through an expanse of troublesome experiences visited by fleeting and unsuccessful moments of hope. Through this journey of struggle, emotional sufferings and survival, the narrative is interrupted with ideological symbolisms that, in the aftermath of the affair, may have taken different meanings. As a Latino composer from Puerto Rico – and United States citizen by birth – this musical essay takes a more vivid significance as many of the unpleasant events have been part of my direct and personal American experience.