Monday, May 29, 2017

John Malveaux: June 1, 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of Henry Lewis appointment as music director of New Jersey Symphony

Henry Lewis


John Malveaux of 
writes:


June 1, 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of Henry Lewis appointment as music director of New Jersey Symphony.
“Under Music Director Henry Lewis (1968–76)—the first African-American music director of a major symphony orchestra—the NJSO entered a new era of high-profile musical activity. The Orchestra made its Carnegie Hall debut with famous soprano (and Lewis’ wife) Marilyn Horne, who became a regular guest with the Orchestra during the Lewis years, as soloist; performed three outdoor concerts led by Lewis in 1968 in a vacant lot on Prince St.—the site of the 1967 Newark Riots—and one in Untermann Field that Lewis dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King; and gave a concert at Garden State Arts Center with Luciano Pavarotti. The Orchestra would perform with Pavarotti again in 1984, in the first classical music program ever performed at Madison Square Garden.
Henry Lewis was born in Los Angeles and he first made history with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lewis_(musician)
The movie and television industry has retold the slave narrative, covered the courage and skills of sports heroes, the lives of pop artists, and more recently women mathematicians. One day but probably after my expiration, the Henry Lewis story will hit the big screen.

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