Program Highlight

The NYPO's "March to Liberation" features works by Black composers, 2/11 @ 3pm

Classical 91.5 WXXO-FM

Published January 25, 2024 at 1:57 PM EST

Leslie B. Dunner conducts a world premiere, a symphony and an oratorio, by Black composers Courtney Bryan, William Grant Still and Adolphus Hailstork.

The New York Philharmonic orchestra and chorus on stage with soloists Ryan Speedo Green, Janinah Burnett, Rodrick Dixon, Simon Estes, Ebony Spicer, Leslie B. Dunner conducts. — Leslie B. Dunner led the New York Philharmonic in a multimedia program directed by Tazewell Thompson and featuring works by Courtney Bryan, William Grant Still and Adolphus Hailstork.

2/4 Salonen: L.A. Variations Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (Frank Huang, v; Alan Gilbert, cond)

2/11 The March to Liberation Still’s Symphony No. 2, Song of a New Race, celebrates the Black American as, in the composer’s words, “a totally new individual.” Adolphus Hailstork’s oratorio Done Made My Vow, A Ceremony, honors the countless Black Americans who have faced “the bench of injustice, and, by doing so, changed a nation.”
Courtney Bryan: Gathering Song Still: Symphony No. 2, Song of a New Race Hailstork: Done Made My Vow, A Ceremony (Ryan Speedo Green, bs-bar;Janinah Burnett, s; Rodrick Dixon, t; Simon Estes, speaker; Ebony Spicer, treble; New York Philharmonic Chorus, Malcom J. Merriweather, dir; Leslie B. Dunner, cond)
Read a reviewof this concert.

2/18 Historic Performances Berg: Der Wein Mahler: Symphony No. 3 (Jessye Norman and Yvonne Minton, s; Pierre Boulez, cond)

2/25 Mozart’s Final Symphonies Mozart: Symphony No. 39, 40 and 41 (Alan Gilbert, cond)