A Sponsored Ad from The Rose of Sonora

 Wichita Symphony Orchestra Performance  Photo by Kacy Meinecke

Violin virtuoso Holly Mulcahy will perform George S. Clinton's The Rose of Sonora at symphonies nationwide starting on October 15th.

Upcoming performances will be on March 12 at Grand Junction Symphony in Grand Junction, CO, and May 21 at Brevard Symphony in Brevard, NC.

The origin of the concerto began after violin virtuoso Holly Mulcahy’s impassioned plea in a social media post: "If there was an epic Western soundtrack style violin concerto, I'd be all over it." Award-winning composer George S. Clinton answered the call and composed The Rose of Sonora, a violin concerto about a heroine in the Wild West. The composition was written for solo violin, symphony orchestra, and male chorus in the style of an epic Western film score. For the solo violin, Clinton and Mulcahy merged both traditional fiddle and classic violin techniques to reflect Rose's voice. Since its debut, The Rose of Sonora's unique musical palate has been performed by symphonies nationwide, including upcoming performances with the Idaho Falls Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, Grand Junction Symphony, and Brevard Philharmonic.

Clinton, who built his career composing music for stories, created a backstory that centers around a Wild West outlaw and heroine, Rose. As a concerto in five scenes (movements), each scene tells a part of Rose's story. "There are no images," explains Clinton, "just a text description of each scene projected above the orchestra before it is played. The audience then creates their own mental movie as they listen." The Rose of Sonora is a distinctive symphonic experience which has been described as "immersive", "captivating", and "uniquely emotional".

For more information on The Rose of Sonora, visit RoseofSonora.com.

About George S. Clinton: George S. Clinton is an award-winning composer who has scored over 100 films, most notably "Austin Powers" 1, 2, & 3; "The Santa Clause" 2 & 3; "Mortal Kombat" 1 & 2 and the Emmy Award winning "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee."

Clinton has been an advisor at the Sundance Composers Lab, served on the Music Executive Branch of AMPAS (The Oscars), and was Chair of Film Scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Awards include Grammy and Emmy nominations, the SCL Ambassador Award, and nine BMI Film Music Awards, including their highest honor, the BMI Icon Award for career achievement.

About Holly Mulcahy: After hearing Scheherazade at an early age, Holly Mulcahy fell in love with the violin and knew it would be her future. Since then, she has won multiple concertmaster positions in symphonic orchestras across the country while maintaining a robust solo career and a small non-profit organization.

Passionate about performing living American composers' works, Holly has been featured as soloist for concertos by Jennifer Higdon, Jim Stephenson, Philip Glass, and now a concerto by Hollywood film composer, George S. Clinton.

Believing in music as a healing and coping source, Holly founded Arts Capacity, a charitable 501(c)3 which focuses on bringing live chamber music, art, artists, and composers to prisons. Mulcahy is also the author of Neo Classical, a monthly column on the future of classical music.