HeraldNews.com: FRSO [Fall River S. O.] rises to new heights for upcoming concert [Douglas McRay Daniels conducts William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony

William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

Douglas McRay Daniels

http://www.dmdaniels.com/

Fall River Symphony Orchestra

(The Herald News)

The Herald News

By Linda Murphy
Lifestyle Editor

The Fall River Symphony Orchestra's concert this Sunday will feature Brahms' Academic Overture, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony.

"This concert spans a long period starting with a big, robust romantic piece from Brahms," said Douglas McRay Daniels, conductor and music director of the FRSO.Daniels said he first became familiar with Still's Afro-American Symphony at the University of Nebraska when the orchestra performed it while he was in graduate school there. "It's a monumental piece, it's the first symphony by an African-American composer to be performed nationally. He wrote it in 1930," said Daniels. "William Grant Still was a fantastic composer."

Daniels said Still incorporated verses from poet Paul Laurence Dunbar's poems as epigraphs to his symphony into which he integrated 12-bar blues chords. "He uses a lot of spirituals, gospel and jazz," added Daniels. 

Stills' symphony also features unexpected instruments including the banjo and contrabassoon. "The orchestra's killing it — most of the people in the Fall River Symphony Orchestra have never heard it before," said Daniels.

The timing of performing Stills' symphony, during Black American History Month, was unintentional, though as an African-American conductor, Daniels said he feels an obligation to represent composers "who look like me."

Additionally, Daniels said one of his goals is always to make the orchestra go to places musically that they've never been before. "They love it and they're very excited about it," he said.