Season Opening / The Philadelphia Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin / Angel Blue – Elbphilharmonie Summer

This concert has already taken place! 15 | 38 | 76 | 110 | 125
This concert has already taken place! 15 | 38 | 76 | 110 | 125
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin © George Etheridge
Angel Blue
Angel Blue © Mielke Management Studio
  • Doors open 19:00

  • Start 20:00

  • Interval

  • End ca. 22:15

Kicking off the season with a message

It’s the season opening! Although the »Elbphilharmonie Sommer« festival has already seen a string of artists take to the stage over several days now, the new season officially starts with this concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra. And there are good reasons for that: a politically charged and musically refined programme that brings together predominantly African-American (!) female (!) composers. Added to this, a fulminant sound embodying both tradition and vision, the Canadian chief conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin bubbling over with charm and energy, and Angel Blue, a soloist who has been taking the world’s most renowned opera stages by storm.

Awareness for racial injustices of the past has long since reached the classical music scene, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. As well as a generation of outstanding musicians from the black community now getting their moment in the spotlight as soloists and orchestra members, composers who have long been shamefully ignored are now also being performed (once again). They include Florence Price, the first black woman to have her music performed by a major American orchestra – the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in 1934.

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin recently made a compelling case for her legacy with an acclaimed recording of her Symphonies No. 1 and No. 3. Price’s present-day successors include Gabriela Lena Frank and Valerie Coleman, who confidently shine a light on their origins, in gripping works of political force. The programme also includes Samuel Barber, perhaps the best known of all American composers, who summons a time of peace and hope in »Knoxville: Summer of 1915«.

Performers

The Philadelphia Orchestra

Angel Blue soprano

conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Programme

Gabriela Lena Frank
Auszüge aus Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (Fassung für Streichorchester)

Samuel Barber
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 für Sopran und Orchester op. 24

Valerie Coleman
This Is Not a Small Voice

– Interval –

Florence B. Price
Sinfonie Nr. 1 e-Moll

Florence B. Price
Adoration

Festival

Elbphilharmonie Summer

Spotlight

The Americans

Promoter: HamburgMusik / Konzertdirektion Dr. Rudolf Goette

During your visit

Elbphilharmonie Plaza

A public viewing platform on the 8th floor of the Elbphilharmonie

More about the Plaza

Food and Drink

Before the concert and in the interval

Find out more

Coughing, clapping, chatting

Tips for your concert visit

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