Tuesday, August 3, 2010

George Walker's 'Foils for Orchestra (Hommage à Saint-George)' at Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Aug. 15



[George Walker]

Robert Milby writes to AfriClassical about the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music of Santa Cruz, California, whose Music Director/Conductor is the renowned Marin Alsop:
“I am very excited about this concert, it is the final one in the series, and Dr. Walker's is the closing piece.”

Sunday, August 15, 4:30 & 8pm
Music at the Mission: In Aeternam
Mission San Juan Bautista
Elena Kats-Chernin: Heaven is Closed [U.S. Premiere]
Philip Glass: Cello Concerto [Wendy Sutter, cello]
Pierre Jalbert: In Aeternam
George Walker: Foils for Orchestra (Hommage à Saint-George) [West Coast Premiere]

“The final work of this season was written by George Walker, the first African-American composer to win a Pulitzer Prize and the only living composer-pianist to be inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. Under Maestra Alsop’s baton the Festival Orchestra will present the West Coast premiere of his Foils for Orchestra (Hommage à Saint George). A work in one movement, Foils suggests swords used in a fencing match and conjures up associations with the myth of Saint George and the Dragon as well as the exploits of the Chevalier de Saint George. Walker describes the music as 'suggesting explosive clashes and a violent duel of thrusts and parrying. The victor emerges scarred, but triumphant.'" [George Walker (b. 1922) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, and his personal website is http://georgetwalker.com/]

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