2015/16 Season Programs
Still, Sibelius & Coleridge-Taylor
October 16, 2015 | 8 PM
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 3 W 65th St, New York, NY 10023 Still: Troubled Island Suite Coleridge-Taylor: Romance for Violin and Orchestra ^ Coleridge-Taylor: Keep Me From Sinking Down ^ Sibelius: Pelléas och Mélisande * (Complete 1905 Version, US Premiere) ^ John McLaughlin Williams, violin * Heather Jones, Mezzo-Soprano | Tickets | |
William Grant Still’s TROUBLED ISLAND returns to New York City along side works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Jean Sibelius
William Grant Still’s 1939 opera TROUBLED ISLAND will again be heard in NYC, now as a symphonic suite. Often referred to as “the Dean of African-American composers,” Still broke ground as the first to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra, and first to have an opera premiered by a major opera house. TROUBLED ISLAND was first performed by New York City Opera in 1949, and was greeted with 22 curtain calls on opening night.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an African-English composer and boyhood hero of William Grant Still. His Romance for Violin and Orchestra puts on display all the qualities that earned him the (at-the-time flattering) nicknames of "African Mahler," and "coloured Dvorak." Coleridge-Taylor's Romance is at once idyllic and regretful. GRAMMY award-winning violinist and conductor John McLaughlin Williams joins us as soloist for both Coleridge-Taylor selections.
Of William Grant Still, Sibelius remarked "his music has something to say." Both greatly admired the other's music, and after Sibelius' death Still was commissioned to write a piece memorializing him. The result was the rich and moving Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius. In deference to Still’s appreciation for Sibelius, we will present his tone poem Pelléas och Méllisande. This program coincides with #Sibelius150, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. UPNYC will present the US premiere of the complete 1905 version of Pélleas och Mélisande reconstructed from the composer's manuscript.
| Tickets |
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an African-English composer and boyhood hero of William Grant Still. His Romance for Violin and Orchestra puts on display all the qualities that earned him the (at-the-time flattering) nicknames of "African Mahler," and "coloured Dvorak." Coleridge-Taylor's Romance is at once idyllic and regretful. GRAMMY award-winning violinist and conductor John McLaughlin Williams joins us as soloist for both Coleridge-Taylor selections.
Of William Grant Still, Sibelius remarked "his music has something to say." Both greatly admired the other's music, and after Sibelius' death Still was commissioned to write a piece memorializing him. The result was the rich and moving Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius. In deference to Still’s appreciation for Sibelius, we will present his tone poem Pelléas och Méllisande. This program coincides with #Sibelius150, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. UPNYC will present the US premiere of the complete 1905 version of Pélleas och Mélisande reconstructed from the composer's manuscript.
| Tickets |
Twenty-Something: Playground Strings (1875-Present)
December 4, 2015 | 8 PM
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music Mary Flagler Cary Hall 450 W. 37th St., Between 9th and 10th Ave. PROGRAMMaciej Bałenkowski: Sinfonietta ("Time is Ticking") (2015) +
Julia Seeholzer: Yours (2011) * George Walker: Antifonys (1968) George Walker: Lyric for Strings (1946) Antonín Dvořák: Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (1875) + American Premiere * East Coast Premiere | Tickets | |
From Prague to Poland, with a jaunt in America in between, this program traces 140 years of writing for strings.
At the heart of this program are compositions by 20-somethings. You'll hear the pangs of love, gnashing of teeth, and sighs of regret.
George T. Walker (b. 1922) was the first African-American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music (Lilacs, 1996). Urban Playground will present his lush and moving Lyric for Strings (1946), paired with his kaleidoscopic and pulsating Antifonys (1968). Walker was a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia when Lyric was premiered by their student orchestra and broadcast on the radio. It carries the dedication "To my grandmother," and remains one of his most popular works to this day. Antifonys illustrates Walker's later style. Sentimentality is replaced by a new dramatic voice, oscillating tension and release.
20-year-old Maciej Bałenkowski's Sinfonietta was winner of the 2015 National Composition Contest in Kraków, Poland. It emanates a respect for tradition (echoes of Rite of Spring), while creating a unique sound world.
By today's terminology, a then 34-year-old Dvořák was still an "emerging" composer. He had not yet achieved the international notoriety his symphonies 7, 8 and 9 would bring. Today the Serenade for Strings is one of Dvořák's most admired and frequently performed works.
Julia Seeholzer's Yours is a touching reflection, featuring solos from the principal violinist, violist and cellist.
| Tickets |
George T. Walker (b. 1922) was the first African-American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music (Lilacs, 1996). Urban Playground will present his lush and moving Lyric for Strings (1946), paired with his kaleidoscopic and pulsating Antifonys (1968). Walker was a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia when Lyric was premiered by their student orchestra and broadcast on the radio. It carries the dedication "To my grandmother," and remains one of his most popular works to this day. Antifonys illustrates Walker's later style. Sentimentality is replaced by a new dramatic voice, oscillating tension and release.
20-year-old Maciej Bałenkowski's Sinfonietta was winner of the 2015 National Composition Contest in Kraków, Poland. It emanates a respect for tradition (echoes of Rite of Spring), while creating a unique sound world.
By today's terminology, a then 34-year-old Dvořák was still an "emerging" composer. He had not yet achieved the international notoriety his symphonies 7, 8 and 9 would bring. Today the Serenade for Strings is one of Dvořák's most admired and frequently performed works.
Julia Seeholzer's Yours is a touching reflection, featuring solos from the principal violinist, violist and cellist.
| Tickets |
From Africa-to-America
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