Esprit’s opening concert, I Hit My Head and Everything Changed, an impactful evening of music, will leave the audience “seeing stars”. Taking place on Sunday October 6, 2019 in Koerner Hall, the concert begins with a blast of orchestral sound in Thomas Adès’ Overture to “The Tempest”. The World Premiere of the title piece by Brian Harman, I Hit My Head and Everything Changed, is an artistic collaboration between Harman and artist Moira Ness. The work explores the distortion of borrowed original music and text/lyrics as a way of creating an artistic confessional. Ness has been commissioned to create both a minimalistic text-based video piece that will be projected in the concert hall while Harman’s piece is performed, as well as a large art installation which will be featured in the Koerner Hall lobby. Harman’s music combines and distorts musical quotations ranging from Bach and Chopin to Depeche Mode and Demi Lovato, playing with temporality and self-expression. The concert also includes a milestone award for renowned Canadian composer Alexina Louie, who was announced as the recipient of the prestigious Molson Prize in the Arts for 2019; the award will be officially presented to her following the performance of her piece, Love Songs for a Small Planet. The work, for chamber choir, harp, percussion and string orchestra, will feature The Elmer Iseler Singers as guest artists. Also on the program is the Canadian Premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s compelling concerto for the left hand, Left, alone, which will showcase guest artist Avan Yu as one of Canada’s hottest young pianists.