TILT is a different angle on music, an intimate concert in celebration of light set in the marvelous ambiance of Grace Cathedral on the longest day of the year. The evening begins with The Warm Up reception, featuring summery spritzers, canapés, and a sparkling TILT cocktail, with Mosaic Strings performing elegant and festive arrangements drawn from popular film, television, and pop repertoire.
This year’s performance brings together a stunning group of world-class artists, featuring four vocal soloists with virtuoso strings and piano.
The title Midnight Sun reflects the paradox at the heart of the solstice, a moment when darkness and daylight seem to coexist, when even midnight can feel illuminated. The program begins in a cool, mysterious nocturnal sound world and gradually evolves toward brilliance, warmth, and exuberant light, tracing a journey from night through dawn to the radiant fullness of summer.
The opening and closing of the concert feature fresh new arrangements by TILT’s music director and curator, Ronny Michael Greenberg, of Antonio Vivaldi’s Winter and Summer from The Four Seasons. Inspired by the composer’s own poetry, the only poetry he is known to have written, these works are reimagined for virtuoso voices and strings, alternating in true concerto form, creating a vivid dialogue between text and music that brings Vivaldi’s original imagery to life.
Also featured is a reimagined version of Midnight Sun by Lionel Hampton, from which the program takes its title.
We’ll be bringing the sunset indoors courtesy of Mad Alchemy, a company that has been mesmerizing audiences with its Analog Liquid Light Show since 1971.