Eclectic but distinctively original, John Harbison's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra reflects an artist of deep sensibility and training. Harbison, born in Orange, New Jersey, on December 20, 1938, is a recipient of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and has received commissions from numerous ensembles and foundations, including the Boston and San Francisco symphonies and the Koussevitzky Foundation. The brittleness sometimes found in Harbison's harmonic language bears the imprint of Roger Sessions, with whom he studied at Princeton; yet the lyricism of Harbison's melodic line is very much his own, a quality strikingly apparent in this concerto.

Born in Brooklyn on June 29, 1924, Ezra Laderman studied with Stefan Wolpe, Otto Luening, and Douglas Moore. His Concerto for Double Orchestra is the creation of a prolific composer, and is "double" in more ways than one. It is actually two works joined together for two different ensembles: The three inner movements are for chamber orchestra and may be performed separately; the outer movements are scored for large orchestra.