Instrumentation:
wok (with beans)
open instrumentation ensemble (in four parts)
[optional] stereo exciters
Commission: Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective
Duration: 12 minutes
Program Information:
Concerto for Wok is sets an unlikely orchestral soloist—a wok—in a virtuosic exploration of resonance, gesture, and the poetry of the everyday. In the Chinese kitchen, the wok is a boisterous hero: indispensable and commands flame with authority. The solo wok—bowed, struck, and scraped—reveals a surprising spectrum of metallic shimmer, thunderous clangor, and delicate overtones. Here, it assumes the Romantic mantle of the concerto soloist, triumphant and striving against the ensemble's shifting textures, moving between humor and ritual, choreography and sound.
Premiere: February 28 2026, Atlanta Chamber Music Collective; Dominic Ryder (wok soloist)