The ninth will occur Friday at an Alabama Symphony Masterworks event, and will be the crowning point in Dorman's season-long residency with ASO.
"Astrolatry," a work about stars and constellations -- their colors, interactions and motion -- was completed Jan. 1.
"It's brand new -- my most recent orchestra piece," said the Israel-born, Juilliard-educated composer of the ASO commission. "It is inspired by the fact that I've seen the stars more in the last year than I ever have before. I grew up in Tel Aviv and lived in New York, where you never see the stars at all. I have been traveling a lot and I've been teaching at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Around the college, you can go out at night and it's really starry."
What: Alabama Symphony Masterworks. Justin Brown, conductor. Gil Shaham, violinist.
Tickets: $19-$78. Call 975-2787 or go to www.alabamasymphony.org.
On the program: Avner Dorman, "Astrolatry" (world premiere); Hindemith, "Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber," Beethoven, Violin Concerto.
Concert Comments: 7 p.m. each night.
Yet like much of Dorman's music, "Astrolatry" amalgamates several styles from the 20th and 21st centuries. Scored for a "pretty standard orchestra," it employs piano and amplified harp, uses a large array of percussion instruments and special effects for strings. Listeners may hear references to the music of George Crumb, Gyorgy Ligeti and Gustav Holst.
"There's always kinetic energy inside that likes to burst out," he said. "There's a quote from 'The Planets' in the second movement. From a poetic view, it's like a tribal, 10 to 15 thousand years ago kind of thing, but because I use a techno beat, it's in both worlds, being primal and very modern."
The unveiling comes on the heels of the premiere of "Uriah" by the San Francisco Symphony conducted by David Robertson, a Grammy nomination for his Mandolin Concerto, the premiere of "Azerbaijani Dance" in Israel and New York by Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic, and several performances of "Frozen in Time" by orchestras in Europe, South America and Asia, including the Kansas City Symphony and Tokyo's NHK Symphony.
Next weekend marks Dorman's fourth trip to Birmingham, and "Astrolatry" will be the fifth orchestral work to be heard here. Beginning in September with "Chorale for Strings," the orchestra proceeded with the October premiere of the Saxophone Concerto with Joshua Redman as the soloist, the Concerto Grosso in November, and the "Ellef Symphony" last month. Surrounding those performances, Dorman has been visiting Cherokee Bend Elementary School as part of the educational component of his residency.
Avner Dorman takes questions from students at Cherokee Bend Elementary School.
Dorman had nothing but praise for ASO's treatment of his music.
"I love this orchestra," he said. "Justin (Brown) is phenomenal -- one of the best conductors I've had the pleasure of working with. When I first got the call to come here, I asked around about this orchestra and everyone told me they're better than you might think. They're better than that."
ASO's composer-in-residence program will continue next season with Edgar Meyer. A support group called Sound Investment is part of the reason for the orchestra's commitment to new music, which recently earned it ASCAP's first prize for adventurous programming in Group 2 orchestras.
"Symphonic music cannot rely simply on the old masters," said Sound Investment member Hugh Rushing. "There needs to be a balance between traditional works and the new. These pieces are exciting to hear and are a key part of moving our symphony forward into the 21st century."
Added Dorman, "Commissioning and premiering pieces is so important to the art form. I told the Sound Investment people, if they had not done this, 'Astrolatry' would not have been born. If no one initiates premieres, the art form would die."
During the final visit of his residency this week, Dorman will meet with Gil Shaham, who will be soloing with ASO in Beethoven's Violin Concerto on the same concerts as "Astrolatry." Shaham and his sister, pianist Orli, will be premiering Dorman's "Niggunim" for violin and piano on April 16 at the 92nd Street Y in New York, and this will be the first chance Dorman has had to meet with Gil Shaham about the piece.
"Orli will not be here, but actually I think Justin will play the piano," he said. "He's amazing. To see him do the Shostakovich concerto and conduct (in November), literally my jaw dropped, and I never use that term."
Hearing ASO premiere the 10-year-old Saxophone Concerto, and now the 12-week-old "Astrolatry," will provide Dorman with valuable perspective on his career.
"It has been many years since I wrote the 'Ellef Symphony' and the Saxophone Concerto," he said. "They feel like they're older. I hope listeners will agree that 'Astrolatry' is more mature. Ten years from now, I may feel differently."