VolumeOne.org: Eau Claire [Wisconsin] Chamber Orchestra Performs Works of William Grant Still & George Walker March 10

William Grant Still

George Walker

VolumeOne

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Barbara Arnold

Wednesday, March 7th, 2018

“I, Too, Sing America” is the theme of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra’s concert on Saturday, March 10, at 7:30pm at Grace Lutheran Church, 202 W. Grand Ave. The theme comes from the 1926 poem “I, Too” by African-American poet Langston Hughes. The orchestra will perform works by two African-American composers and an American woman: “From the Black Belt” by William Grant Still, “Lyric for Strings,” by George Walker, and “Quartet No. 1 of the Gaelic Symphony” by Amy Beach. Still – who, like Hughes, was part of the Harlem Renaissance – was the first African-American to have an opera performed by the New York City Opera and the first to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra. Walker was the first African-American to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and also the first to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music. Beach is recognized for being the first American woman to compose and publish a symphony.