FARGO — It wasn’t a dark and stormy night in Fargo on Saturday, but it sounded like it at North Dakota State University’s Festival Concert Hall.
The Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra opened its new season with the world premiere of Noir Concerto No. 1, a shadowy thriller by Fargo native Adam Hochstatter. (Read more:
A film score composer in Hollywood, Hochstatter’s piece played out like a cinematic drama, one that starred Russ Peterson on saxophone in the lead.
A graduate of Å·ÃÀÊÓƵ, Hochstatter studied under Peterson, who also is principal bassoonist in the FMSO. Hochstatter wrote Noir Concerto No. 1 with Peterson in mind as a way to showcase the saxophone, which is often unused in symphony works.
The pairing was a match made in heaven, or maybe in this noir case, a hellish big city that knows how to break your heart.