Leon Botstein to appear on the Leonard Lopate Show (March 16)
Conductor and Bard College
President Leon Botstein will be a guest on WNYC Radio’s Leonard Lopate Show today, March 16 at 1pm to discuss the American
Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming concert entitled “Revisiting William Grant
Still”. The concert, which takes place on Sunday, March 22 at
3pm at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, will feature the music of the
pioneering African-American composerWilliam Grant Still. Often
referred to as the dean of African-American composers, Still was the first
African-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra, the first to have a
symphony of his own performed by a leading orchestra, and the first to have an
opera performed by a major opera company.
Yet, despite these achievements, concertgoers today know little about
him and rarely encounter his works.
True to its mission, the ASO seeks to redress that injustice with this
program, which also poses questions about how race has impacted Still’s musical
legacy.
In addition to talking about
the ASO concert, Mr. Botstein will also introduce the 2009 Bard SummerScape festival,
“Wagner and His World”. This
seven-week Hudson Valley performing arts festival includes groundbreaking and
rarely seen performances in dance, theater, opera, and film, plus the 20th
anniversary of the acclaimed “Bard Music Festival”.
The Leonard Lopate Show can be heard at 12pm weekdays on WNYC FM 93.9 and AM
820 and online at www.wnyc.org
# # #
Sunday, March 22, 3pm
“Revisiting
William Grant Still”
Leon
Botstein conducts the American Symphony Orchestra
Avery
Fisher Hall
George
Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931)
Rip Van Winkle Concert Overture (1879)
William
Grant Still (1895-1978)
Darker America (1924)
Africa (1930)
Edgard Varèse (1883-1965)
Offrandes (1921),
with Jennifer Rivera, mezzo-Soprano
William
Grant Still
Symphony No. 2 (1937)
Tickets
start at just $28; call 212.868.9ASO (9276). Group discounts available. All ticket sales are final.
Composer-in-Residence
Richard Wilson will give an illuminating pre-concert talk at 1:45pm in the
auditorium of Avery Fisher Hall, free to ticket-holders.
Learn
more about this concert and the rest of the season at www.americansymphony.org or from
(212) 868-9ASO (9276).
Details
of the ASO’s final 2008-09 concert at Lincoln Center follow.
Sunday,
May 31, 3pm
“Composing a Nation: Israel’s Musical Patriarchs”
Avery
Fisher Hall
Erich-Walter
Sternberg: The Twelve Tribes of Israel (1938) – U.S. premiere
Mordecai
Seter: Midnight Vigil, Op. 39a (1958) – U.S. premiere
Josef
Tal: Symphony No. 2 (1960) – U.S. premiere
Ödön
Pártos: Ein gev,
Symphonic Fantasy (1952) – U.S. premiere
Paul
Ben-Haim: Symphony No. 2 (1948) – U.S. premiere