Frost School of Music percussion professor Svet Stoyanov will perform at Carnegie Hall this month in the New York premiere of a major new multi-disciplinary work. Stoyanov will be joined at the legendary concert hall by two of his students, Shane Roderick and Mingyu Son, as well as his former student and Frost School alumna Ksenija Komljenović.
They will perform on October 18 in “Can We Know the Sound of Forgiveness,” which merges music, visual art, dance, and spoken word. It is centered on the music of Carnegie Hall’s 2024–2025 Debs Composer’s Chair Gabriela Ortiz, a Mexican composer and frequent collaborator with LA Philharmonic leader Gustavo Dudamel, who was recently called a “classical star” by the New York Times.
“Forgiveness” was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall with the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where the creators began working on the piece in 2020. The Frost School of Music is a partner in the Carnegie Hall performance.
The complex piece, which aims to take viewers on a journey from violence and conflict to healing and forgiveness, was created through a years-long collaborative process involving visual artist James Drake, Ortiz, renowned contemporary choir The Crossing, text by bestselling author Benjamin Alire Sáenz, military veterans groups, choreographer Harrison Guy, and flutist Alejandro Escuer. The Carnegie Hall performance will feature dancers from the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater School.
Stoyanov leads the Frost School’s percussion program and is no stranger to world-class stages and new music. The Bulgarian musician has given solo performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and done concerto appearances with the Chicago, Houston, and American Symphony Orchestras. He has frequently commissioned and performed in new percussion music, including Mason Bates and Andy Akiho pieces.
The “Forgiveness” performance will also showcase Stoyanov’s talent as a teacher via his students. Komljenović, who chairs the percussion department at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, earned her doctorate under Stoyanov in 2017 and has performed and taught globally. Roderick, a Henry Mancini Fellow pursuing his doctorate with Stoyanov, is also a composer whose percussion music has been performed worldwide. Son, who has degrees from the Peabody Institute and the Yale School of Music, is also a doctoral student in percussion at the Frost School; he has performed at the Kennedy Center and Alice Tully Hall. Both Roderick and Son attended the Frost School at Festival Napa Valley Blackburn Music Academy.
