In June 2024 Evlana Ensemble toured Cassandra Miller’s Perfect Offering to venues in Castlebar, Sligo, Kilkenny, culminating with a performance of the 18-minute work for flute, clarinet, piano, and string quartet at the Dublin City Gallery 9 June. The group previously gave the Irish premiere of the piece at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, in May 2023.
Alex Ross described Miller’s Perfect Offering, which was premiered and later recorded by Explore Ensemble alongside music by Lisa Illean, as “extraordinarily beautiful”. Miller first began drafting the piece during a period of convalescence, which also overlapped with the early days of lockdown. She recalls,
At that time, I had the quote in my head ‘ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering’ (Leonard Cohen), and the piece began to be about bells somehow—how they swing, and how they mark passing time. The piece is not at all about Leonard Cohen, but with this mantra-like quote in mind, the process of composing became a meditation on the imperfect perfection of this tiring body and all the uselessness of plans.
Perfect Offering was commissioned for the Ives Ensemble by De Link, Nieuwe Muziek Tilburg, who gave the first performance in the Netherlands in 2020. It recently received its US premiere at Northwestern University from their Contemporary Music Ensemble in April 2024, performed alongside Miller’s “O Zomer!” (2007), a 7-minute piece for oboe, bassoon, trumpet, two percussionists, piano, cello, and double bass, and inspired by the Dutch children’s writer Toon Tellegen. Ensemble Variances and Paramirabo gave the Canadian premiere of Perfect Offering in October 2023 at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal.
On July 31 Miller’s I cannot love without trembling, another work celebrated by Alex Ross, makes its London debut at the BBC Proms with Lawrence Power, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The 25-minute work was co-commissioned by BBC Radio 3, Brussels Philharmonic, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, supported by The Viola Commissioning Circle. It takes its title from the writings of Simone Weil and draws on the music-making of Epirot violinist Alexis Zoumbas, who left his mountainous homeland in Greece for the United States; it draws especially on recordings of his improvised moiroloi compositions, lamenting funeral music associated with the women of Epirus.