What do Philip Glass and a South American dam have in common? Find out at SLO concert

It starts with a stately trickle as singers chant over whirling eddies of woodwinds and quiet currents of percussion. Soon the music swells, and the stream of sound becomes a raging river.

“Itaipú,” avant-garde composer Philip Glass’ stirring tribute to the world’s second largest hydroelectric dam, is at the center of the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale’s concert Saturday at the Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo.

The program pairs Glass’ piece, a monumental masterpiece of modern classical music, with two mainstays from the Romantic era: “Schicksalslied” by Johannes Brahms and excerpts from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn.

“I wanted to do something that would be a little bit different” to open the SLO Master Chorale’s 33rd season, artistic director and conductor Thomas Davies explained.

With 95 singers and about 50 musicians taking the stage, he added, “It’s going to be a very exciting program.”

Few composers enjoy the cult following of the influential Glass, whose countless contributions to contemporary classical music include symphonies, opera concertos and several movie scores. Nominated for Academy Awards for “Kundun,” “The Hours” and “Notes on a Scandal,” he won a Golden Globe for his work with Burkhard von Dallwitz on “The Truman Show.”

“Philip Glass is one of the most important conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries,” Davies said.

He’s also a family friend who lives down the street in New York City from Davies’ brother, Dennis Russell Davies, chief conductor of Switzerland’s Basel Symphony Orchestra and Bruckner Orchestra Linz and Opera Linz in Austria.

It was Dennis Russell Davies who recommended that his brother try tackling “Itaipú.”

Commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the four-part symphonic cantata takes its inspiration from the massive Itaipú Dam on the Paraná River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, completed in 1984. At the time, the plant — capable of generating 14,000 megawatts — was considered the biggest hydroelectric dam worldwide in terms of electricity production; China’s Three Gorges Dam took the top spot in 2012.

“Itaipú,” which premiered in 1989, examines the awesome might of the dam while celebrating the people native to that region.

Lyrics are sung in Guaraní, an indigenous language of South America.

“It’s really a creation story in a sense. You have the creation of the peoples of this region countered with this incredible human creation,” Thomas Davies said. “Glass is asking us to compare the differences between the two and see the beauty in both.”

Although Brahms’ “Schicksalslied” and Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” don’t share much with “Itaipú” on the surface, they have a common theme.

In each piece, Davies said, the composers are expressing awe over forces greater than themselves. (Like its Shakespearean source material, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” deals with fairies, while “Schicksalslied,” which translates to “Song of Destiny,” addresses the gods.)

Davies said he hopes local music lovers will be receptive to the unusual pairing.

“It’s important for the community to hear contemporary music,” the conductor said.

“Itaipú,” he added, offers the perfect entry point for listeners who may not be familiar with Glass’ work.

“This is not atonal music,” Davies said.

Two more monumental works are in store for Central Coast audiences this season.

On Dec. 16, SLO Master Chorale will hold its second annual sing-along to George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.” Concertgoers are invited to raise their voices as the chorus, orchestra and soloists perform the holiday classic at the PAC.

In May, the ensemble tackles Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” Dancers from Ballet San Luis Obispo will accompany the singers and musicians live.

Davies is satisfied the mix will appeal to a broad audience.

“To have a wide variety (of music) for the audience to hear is the way to go,” he said.

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 10:11 AM with the headline "What do Philip Glass and a South American dam have in common? Find out at SLO concert."