It was the fall of 2020. Live performances were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Michael Repper realized that they wouldn’t be able to play their annual concert at Carnegie Hall. So what’s an orchestra to do? Record a CD! Dynamic pieces were chosen by three Black women composers: Florence Price, Valerie Coleman, and NYYS alumna Jessie Montgomery. Since they couldn’t safely record with all 110 musicians in the studio at one time, the recording was done in pieces, then mixed together. The result is a vibrant debut CD on Avie Records for the NYYS, including Price’s Ethiopia’s Shadow in America, which has never before been recorded in America.
And, although a concert in Carnegie Hall would supply many wonderful memories, “This digital moment,” says NYYS Executive Director Shauna Quill, “is going to be forever.”
Here’s a video on the making of the album:
