Mim Commissions

2012 Season

In 2012, Mim will feature a world premiere by Polina Nazaykinskaya. This piece is inspired by the miraculous life of David Arben, former associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Holocaust survivor. Visit our 2012 Season page for more details.

2011 Season

In 2011, Emmy Award Winning composer John Wineglass added a new dimension to our festival; our very first world premiere! His 1st piano trio in memory of late Princess Diana was a grand highlight of our programs.

Working on Wineglass’s piano trio was  extremely gratifying. Amy, Danielle and I had fun exploring and “breathing life” into John’s latest work. From the opening chord “Con sordino” that I play with Danielle I felt possessed by grief and horror at such loss of life. After the ugliness of “The Mystery” (mvt I) and the relentless motor that led to her death in “The Chase” (mvt II), as images of Princess Diana entered my mind, I was nearly moved to tears in the beauty of her lament (mvt III). Lilly, who page turned for Amy reported seeing tears in people’s eyes. A standing ovation confirmed the electric charge was felt throughout the venue.

One highlight during our outreach was when we asked the kids to describe what they thought “living composer John Wineglass” was thinking about as he composed the middle movement of his piano trio. The first child I called on at Westlake said, “It reminds me of a car chase from an old Italian film.” The movement is entitled “The Chase” and depicts the car chase that led to Princess Di’s death. We purposely avoided the morbid aspect of the topic in front of the children but were blown away by the intelligence and creative minds that the kids possess!