Suburban Symphony's Co-Principal Trumpet Conducts Still's “Afro-American Symphony”

[William Grant Still (Photo is the sole property of William Grant Still Music, and is used with permission.)]

The Cleveland Plain Dealer
MUSIC
Suburban Symphony concert trumpets gifts of composer William Grant Still
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Music Critic
“Eric Dina could hardly ask for anything more. Not only will the Suburban Symphony Orchestra's co-principal trumpet have the honor of conducting his colleagues today at Beachwood High School Auditorium, he'll also get to lead a piece he's long loved: William Grant Still's Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American).”

“When someone suggested rounding out the concert with music by George Gershwin, Dina suggested Grant Still’s symphony. His peers welcomed the idea.”

“Dina, 31, parallels the late composer beyond their African- American heritages. Both were educated in Ohio — Grant Still at Wilberforce University and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Dina at University School and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

And Dina, instrumental music director and Performing Arts Department chairman at University School’s Shaker Heights campus, shares Grant Still’s belief — epitomized by the Afro-American Symphony — that music transcends stereotypical categories.

'As an African-American, I’ve always found that too often we separate things into different races,' he said. 'We think of R&B as an African-American thing and classical as Caucasian. I’ve always liked classical music. So I like the melding of both traditions into one form.

'It’s not a forced thing. It seems natural. When William Grant Still put this together, it musically made sense and harmonically made sense. It was true to both roots.'” Full Post [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com]

Suburban Symphony's Co-Principal Trumpet
Eric Dina Conducts
William Grant Still
Afro-American Symphony
African American Composer
African American Classical Composition