For Roscoe Mitchell (2020)

Like his subsequent "non-certo" For Marcos Balter – also composed during the upheavals, political and otherwise, of the year 2020 – Tyshawn Sorey's For Roscoe Mitchell for cello and orchestra is a single-movement work that imagines a non-adversarial, non-hierarchical relationship between the soloist and the ensemble. The 20-minute piece is named in admiration of Sorey's friend and collaborator Roscoe Mitchell, the Chicago-based bandleader, composer, educator, and performer. Cellist Seth Parker Woods gave the world premiere in November 2020 alongside conductor David Robertson and the Seattle Symphony, who commissioned the piece.