On May 9, the Dearborn Symphony took the stage at Ford Community & Performing Arts Center to perform their season finale, a program called “Fantasia Favorites.” True to the name, the program consisted of classical cult classics: “Night on Bald Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky, “Dance of the Hours” by Amilcare Ponchielli, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Paul Dukas and “The Firebird Suite” by Igor Stravinsky. But before “The Firebird Suite” could grace the stage, the world premiere of Anthony Lai’s “In Other News” was set to debut.
As a native of Dearborn, the first majority Arab-American city in the United States, Lai noticed a lack of Western media coverage on the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, particularly in Palestine. Inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — which has currently displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population — “In Other News” conveys Lai’s observations of televised journalism. The original composition is a comparison of American and overseas news coverage, a discourse translated into music through paralleling dissonance and consonance.
Beginning with a stunning pianississimo flute solo, this motif returns throughout. The rest of the winds were as languid as ever, a promising example of the thinly orchestrated parts with stripped-back sound that truly stole the show. As the piece picked up along with the instrumentation, the brass organically took up space with their sound and presence. The velvety sound of the trumpet bridged a path to the incoming climax.
Likely influenced by the first half of the program, I felt remnants of the piece’s fairytale vibes before it took a turn. The dissonance picked up speed. Some sloppy stomping interjected the piece, which likely could have been more effective if done with more vigor.
The beauty of the piece came in the resolution, or rather, the lack thereof. The ending evaporated into mist; the typical perfect cadence that our ears are so trained to listen for was missing. Instead, a dissonant end, analogous to the brevity and episodic nature of the journalistic news cycle, gradually led into silence.
Before the piece began, Lai gave a mini music theory lesson expanding on the idea that only consonance and dissonance can create tension. Staccato, phrase length and many other techniques can influence a listener’s perception of tension and stress. I could feel a combination of these techniques used to tell this tale. Despite the unresolved final cadence, any other ending would have ruined these effects.
“In Other News” was under the helm of Steven Jarvi, music director of the Dearborn Symphony, who had the charm of a game show host but still knew how to conduct a serious piece. This night’s performance was familial, with Lai performing in his hometown and receiving bountiful applause before he spoke a single word.
Jarvi and Lai played off each other’s humor. During one instance, Jarvi described the ease of playing a piece by a living composer, because if questions arise, he can ask instead of performing a séance to converse with Beethoven. Lai later added that the next person’s phone to go off was going to receive the bill for the orchestra’s after-concert bar tab.
It’s easy to forget the charm of small community orchestras. If given the option to commute an hour to see the Detroit Symphony Orchestra or a smaller community orchestra, a majority would lean towards the former. But there is value in producing art away from urban metropolitan areas, and to have such a close-knit orchestra collaborate on a world premiere that affects much of their own community is touching.
I am in the precarious position of being both a journalist and a classical musician, roles that produce media differently. Journalism researches and reports upon events and related commentary. I find that music can function this way as well. “In Other News” sees one form of media criticizing another. Lai has created music that behaves as an opinion piece, asserting his thoughts on a grave matter that is not getting the attention he believes it deserves. Even the title, a nonchalant pivot frequently used by news anchors, embraces Western apathetic tendencies.
Journalistic integrity is a big deal; the top of The Michigan Daily’s own website reads, “One hundred and thirty-four years of editorial freedom.” References to freedom and democracy are often espoused by news organizations all over the United States, like the Washington Post’s slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” The formation and execution of “In Other News” is a scintillating, somber reminder of these ideals, ready for the world to finally listen.
Daily Arts Writer Tara Wasik can be reached at tarawas@umich.edu.
