Peter Boyer’s work Balance of Power, commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, received its premiere by the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, on Saturday, September 18, 2021. A capacity crowd of over 2,200 gave Boyer’s three-movement, 18-minute work a lengthy standing ovation. As noted in the Washington Post review, “the applause went on like a fourth movement.”
Boyer’s work opened a program which also featured preeminent pianist Lang Lang performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, “Romantic.”
The Kennedy Center’s digital program for the concert can be found here. The complete Washington Post review can be found here. The review in Bachtrack (the London-based online magazine) can be found here.
Photos by Dan Chung (except photo of Lang Lang, Boyer and Wilkins, by Megan Guo).
