Big Sur: The Night Sun
Sherwood Hall, Salinas; Sunset Center, Carmel | (831) 646-8511, montereysymphony.org
Emmy-winning local composer John Wineglass had a breakthrough in October when he world-premiered “Big Sur: The Night Sun,” an orchestral composition delivered through the Monterey Symphony, Native American performers and percussionists (in its second and third performances, a reading of Robinson Jeffers’ poetry and projections of Simon Bull’s nature paintings joined the fray). The music evoked the feeling of being in the Big Sur terrain – specifically, Big Sur Land Trust’s Glen Deven Ranch, where Wineglass composed the piece – with enough dynamics to keep it from being a reverie, while paying respect to Native Americans’ imprint on the land. Early on in the 30-minute masterpiece, when Kanyon Sayers-Roods of the Ohlone-Chumash tribe yelps like a coyote, you know this is going somewhere special.