Thursday, September 20, 2018

NWS.edu: New World Symphony in Florence Price's Third Symphony Sept. 22

Florence B. Price (1887-1953)

New World Symphony

September 19, 2018

by Marci Falvey

On Saturday, September 22, NWS Fellows will come together on stage for the first time for the Pre-Season Orchestra Concert: Symphonic Roots. Making his debut on the podium is conductor Joshua Weilerstein, Artistic Director of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and former Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Joshua comes from a family of famous musicians that includes his sister, cellist Alisa (who last appeared with NWS in May 2017), father/violinist Donald and mother/pianist Vivian Hornik.

Joshua will be leading Fellows in a special performance of Florence Price’s Third Symphony--yet another NWS debut. Born in 1887, Price was the first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra in 1933. On his podcast Sticky Notes, Joshua takes a deep dive into the life and music of this mostly unknown composer, her powerfully original voice, what it means to perform her music today and how to develop a performance tradition with music that has been performed so rarely.


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