On 22 April at the Walt Disney Hall Anna Meredith’s Nautilus recieved its US premiere from the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Thomas Adès. This standout track from Meredith's 2016 debut album Varmints was arranged for orchestra by Jack Ross.
The iconic 5-minute fanfare has been used to advertise Prada and in Netflix's documentary about Lady Gaga Gaga: Five Foot Two. This version was commissioned by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. The LA Phil perform the piece again in Augustat the Hollywood Bowl, with Dalia Stasevska, who premiered the orchestral version in Finland in 2021.
Meredith says of the piece: “Nautlius was written as sort of call to arms (for myself!) and was one of the first tracks I wrote when I started to work in electronics alongside my acoustic or orchestral writing. This shift was my way to reclaim some power over my writing, making albums where I would be in complete control. It’s a lovely full circle for this piece to now be rearranged back to an orchestral form.”
“I came up with the rising line whilst stomping along a beach in Scotland and experimenting with placing my steps across different parts of the material to create the shift in feel you hear roughly two thirds in.”
Nautilus was part of a programme curated by Thomas Adès of Gen X composers, which will also see performances of Francisco Coll’s Four Iberian Miniatures for violin and orchestra and Ades’ own Märchentänze. Like Nautilus, the latter also receiving its US premiere. Mercurial violinist Pekka Kuusisto joined Ades and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in both pieces.
Details of the concert can be found here.