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Seattle Symphony Roundup: Benefactor Taylor Swift and ‘Nu.Mu.Zu’ for Free

The pop star gives $50,000, and the symphony releases composer Giya Kancheli's new reflection on violence.

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Meet the Seattle Symphony’s newest benefactor.

Seattle Symphony’s newest benefactor is a nightmare dressed like a daydream. Today the Symphony announced that pop superstar Taylor Swift recently made a donation of $50,000 to the Seattle institution. Apparently Swift heard the Symphony’s commissioned recording of John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean, and decided to show her appreciation with her bank account. The donated funds will support two Symphony programs: Link Up: Seattle Symphony (which brings music to local third through fifth graders) and the musicians’ pension fund.

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In other news, last week the Symphony released its recording composer Giya Kancheli’s new piece Nu.Mu.Zu for free. The 23-minute composition serves as Kancheli’s reflection on the horrors of violence and fanaticism which seems to increasingly be the norm around the world. Co-commissioned with the Belgian National Orchestra, it’s a beautiful piece that spends much of it’s time creating a sense of calm, which makes each tense outburst that much more emotionally impactful. The Seattle premiere performances of Nu.Mu.Zu took place in early November, but the Symphony decided to release it in short order in response to the terrorist attacks in France.  Stream or download Nu.Mu.Zu below.











Seth Sommerfeld
Seth Sommerfeld
Assistant Editor (Arts) Seth Sommerfeld runs the arts department at Seattle Met, crafting the magazine's On the Town section, editing the Culture Fiend blog, and contributing to reader service features such as “The Ultimate Seahawks Guide” and the front-of-the-book department, Mudroom. Seth has written about music and culture for Rolling Stone, Spin, Pacific Northwest Inlander, Charleston Post and Courier, Syracuse Post-Standard, and Billings Gazette. He also extensively covered the NBA Draft for years for Fox Sports and NBADraft.net, and was published as part of Myth, Media, and Culture in Star Wars: An Anthology. Originally from Billings, Montana, Seth first lived in Washington while earning an undergraduate degree in journalism and broadcasting at Gonzaga University. He followed up those studies at Syracuse University, where he earned a master’s degree in arts journalism.