Season Opening / The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin / Angel Blue – Elbphilharmonie Summer
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