ERIC L. SMITH/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL

A singing Santa will be among the festivities at the 22nd annual Clayton Holiday Concert

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Knoxville Choral Society will premiere James Carlson Carlson's orchestral and choral work "Hodie Christus natus est (This Day Christ Is Born)" this weekend.

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It's a special moment when a composer hears an orchestra perform his work for the first time.

"When it's all in place it's quite amazing," says composer James Carlson. "The performers bring that extra element. I know how my pieces go, but sometimes the performers bring something I never saw on the page."

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Knoxville Choral Society will premiere Carlson's orchestral and choral work "Hodie Christus natus est (This Day Christ Is Born)" Friday in this year's Clayton Holiday Concert.

Now a visiting assistant professor at Sewanee the University of the South and living in Knoxville, Carlson has composed works for theater, dance, chorus, orchestra, and small instrumental and vocal combinations.

He's composed for several local projects, including programs at the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Performing Arts and Lecture Series.

The piece for the KSO, he says, was not a commission, but was written specifically with the idea of having it performed by the KSO.

At the 2006 Clayton Holiday Concert, while Carlson was a member of the Knoxville Choral Society, the choral group had performed "Gloria," written by Randol Bass. Someone had mentioned that Knoxville Symphony Orchestra director Lucas Richman had liked the piece very much.

"On that tip," says Carlson, "I said, 'I'll write something like that.'"

Carlson didn't copy the piece, but wrote it with an opening fanfare, a sweeping, melodic mid-section and other structural elements similar to Bass' piece.

Carlson says having certain parameters "takes care of a lot of choices" in a composition, but it doesn't hamper creativity.

"I wanted it to be on the line between commercial and classical," says Carlson. "That's sort of where I like to dwell - on the cusp of things."

Carlson chose a Latin text "Hodie Christus natus est," which he was familiar with from a Benjamin Britton work, and combined it with a 15th century carol.

"I didn't know if it would be performed, so I said I'm just going to have a good time with this."

Carlson sent the piece to the KSO for consideration, and his early hunch proved correct.

Getting an orchestra to perform a composer's unsolicited work is always a challenge, but once a work is performed the chance that it will be presented again is much greater.

"It almost takes a performance to get the ball rolling - especially if it's a big piece with a full orchestra and chorus. When I was a younger composer I would worry a lot. If something went wrong I'd think 'Well, there goes my career!' But things happen sometimes and it's not the end of the world. Now I can say it has been performed by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra."

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel
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