Plymouth composer has the universe on a string

Plymouth composer Matt Sorensen's ''String Theory and the Universe'' will be performed on Saturday. (Kristin Young)

A young composer's orchestral work inspired by a mathematical theory on the fundamentals of the universe will have its debut in Saturday's concert by the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra.

"String Theory and the Universe," Plymouth composer Matthew Sorensen's dense five-minute piece, takes listeners on a high speed "journey in flight" from the "Big Bang" beginning to what theorists are now calling the "Big Crunch" at the end.

Sorensen's musical trip through the universe is part of a program of classical favorites the philharmonic is calling "Vacationer's Paradise." With the Mediterranean as the theme, the concert features Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol," Berlioz's "Roman Carnival Overture," Tchaikovsky's "Capriccio Italien," and French composer Emmanuel Chabrier's "España."

Sorensen began work on "String Theory" after completing studies in composition and production at Berklee College of Music that whetted his appetite to write a full orchestral composition. He spent four months writing a piece that takes off from a leading-edge theoretical attempt to combine the major forces of the universe into one theory. The theory, according to the composer's program notes, states "that fundamentally the universe is made up of tiny filaments or strings that vibrate, just as a string on a violin does, and these vibrations are the building blocks to everything we experience in the world today."

The idea is an especially attractive idea to a musician. "Essentially," Sorensen writes, "String Theory describes our universe as a symphony of tiny vibrations!"

Sorensen, who lives in Plymouth and attended local schools, is currently writing music for film and TV productions.

After graduating from Berklee, the young composer pursued Plymouth Philharmonic music director Steven Karidoyanes for a meeting while devoting four months of study and composition to a piece he could show to the orchestra's conductor and programmer. The two eventually met and together read through the score measure by measure for two and a half hours. "Just the reading alone was worth the four months," the composer said. Karidoyanes called the piece "youthful-sounding, energetic and engaging . . . obviously written by someone with great skill and imagination."

The work is dedicated to the composer's mother, Irene Sorensen, who died last December. She was battling cancer while he was writing it. "My mother and I had a strong musical kinship," Sorensen said. Irene Sorensen studied at the Manhattan School of Music and played music throughout her life. Her son's dedication reads in part, "Let our Music Resonate through the Universe."

After the concert's celebrations of Mediterranean life by famous 19th-century composers, for dessert the orchestra is playing Karidoyanes' own composition, "Yerakína: Dionysian Dance for Orchestra," music with the Greek flavor of the composer's ancestry. The piece was premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra a few years ago and has been performed by the Boston Pops.

Saturday's concert also features a collaboration with the South Shore Conservatory's Bay Youth Symphony, which joins the philharmonic for Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol."

Audience members are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items to Saturday's concert to benefit the Food Warehouse of Greater Plymouth.

Robert Knox can be contacted by rc.knox@gmail.com.