Hatzis's Rebirth is a setting for viola and orchestra of an earlier work, The Mega4 Meta4, for viola and prerecorded audio.
Its orchestration shifts without a moment's notice between small and intimate "chamber music" and overwhelming orchestral assaults, with the soloist caught in between these violent mood swings of the orchestra. The principal players of each string section are occasionally given extensive solo material, and the members of the percussion section are at times soloists in their own right.
Hatzis's renewed sense of promise and hope for China since the turn of the century is reflected in the orchestration of the concluding part of the work. The celebratory orchestration of the closing section calls for a multitude of bells and wind chimes as well as an erhu and a Chinese flute to bring this overt reference to life.
Born in Greece, educated in the United States and a Canadian citizen since 1985, composer Christos Hatzis (b.1953) is becoming widely known as a leading figure in contemporary classical music. His works are performed and broadcast throughout the world, and their frequent combination of a powerful spiritual foundation with an immediately accessible appeal has made a deep emotional impact upon audiences and performers alike.
