When the South Bend Symphony Orchestra decided to make its April 2 concert the first in its history with a program composed entirely of works by Black composers, Alastair Willis says, he knew it wasn’t a matter of whether to include Quinn Mason on the program but what work by the young composer.
“He understands orchestral colors and textures,” Willis says. “He knows how to write with lightness.”
Programming inclusion:' At long last': South Bend Symphony shines a light on music, influence of Black composers
The SBSO’s music director chose Mason’s “A Joyous Trilogy” to open the concert.
The third piece by Mason that the SBSO has performed, it follows the world premiere of “Passages of Joy” at the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Concert and “Reflections on a Memorial” in May 2021.
'A Living Beethoven':And the Beethoven goes on for South Bend Symphony Orchestra
For the latter performance, Willis designated Mason, who turned 26 on March 23, as a “Living Beethoven,” that is, a contemporary composer whose works the conductor believes have the potential to still be performed 200 years from now. The composer plans to be in South Bend for the concert and to join Willis for his pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. April 2 at the Morris Performing Arts Center.When the South Bend Symphony Orchestra decided to make its April 2 concert the first in its history with a program composed entirely of works by Black composers, Alastair Willis says, he knew it wasn’t a matter of whether to include Quinn Mason on the program but what work by the young composer.
“He understands orchestral colors and textures,” Willis says. “He knows how to write with lightness.”
Programming inclusion: 'At long last': South Bend Symphony shines a light on music, influence of Black composers
The SBSO’s music director chose Mason’s “A Joyous Trilogy” to open the concert.
The third piece by Mason that the SBSO has performed, it follows the world premiere of “Passages of Joy” at the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Concert and “Reflections on a Memorial” in May 2021.
'A Living Beethoven': And the Beethoven goes on for South Bend Symphony Orchestra
For the latter performance, Willis designated Mason, who turned 26 on March 23, as a “Living Beethoven,” that is, a contemporary composer whose works the conductor believes have the potential to still be performed 200 years from now. The composer plans to be in South Bend for the concert and to join Willis for his pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. April 2 at the Morris Performing Arts Center.
Because of those performances, the SBSO already has performed a version of a part of “A Joyous Trilogy”: The 2019 piece (revised 2021) grew out of the earlier “Passages of Joy.”
“I love ‘Joyous Trilogy’ for the title,” Willis says, “but I also love that we already have a connection to the piece. … We won’t be premiering ‘Joyous Trilogy,’ but it feels like it’s coming home.”
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Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement follows, with Michelle Cann as the guest soloist.
“The one-movement (structure) is based on Liszt and Mendelssohn,” Willis says. “It has a wonderful originality to it.”
Most performances of Price's concerto clock in at about 18 minutes, and that unusual length compared to the typical 30-40 minutes for a concerto intrigues Cann.
“The first section’s very Romantic, the second section is very spiritual, like a song, and the third section is like a dance,” she says by phone from Philadelphia, where she lives and teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music. “Each section is very different, but it all flows together. You get that variety, and I don’t think you think about the length but everything you’ve heard.”
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'It's so direct'
William Levi Dawson’s "Negro Folk Symphony" concludes the concert.
“Dawson wrote that he wasn’t trying to imitate Beethoven or Brahms,” Willis says, “but that he wanted those who heard it to know it wasn’t written by a white man.”
The first time he heard it, he says, “it blew me away. It’s got depth. … The orchestration, the pacing — it’s very dramatic with its climaxes. It’s so direct.”
It’s melodies are “fresh,” Willis says, and the “symphony touches on our cultural identity, our shared humanity, and these are very, very important universal themes right now.”
When Leopold Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra premiered "Negro Folk Symphony" in 1934 in New York City and on a nationwide radio broadcast, it received a rapturous response.
The second movement, “Hope in the Night,” spurred a spontaneous standing ovation, and Dawson was called back to the stage several times after the work’s conclusion.
Leonard Liebling of the New York American called it “the most distinctive and promising American symphonic proclamation which has so far been achieved.”
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And yet it disappeared from the repertoire within two years of its premiere for almost 30 years, until Stokowski made an immediate, passionate recording of it with the American Symphony Orchestra in 1963 (there have been two more recordings since that first one, by Neeme Järvi and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1992 and by Arthur Fagen and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2020).
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In concert
• Who: The South Bend Symphony Orchestra with guest soloist Michelle Cann
• Where: Morris Performing Arts Center, 211 N. Michigan St., South Bend
• When: 7:30 p.m. April 2
• Pre-concert talk: Maestro Alastair Willis and composer Quinn Mason conduct an in-person pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. April 2 at the Morris.
• COVID protocols: Regardless of vaccination status, all patrons are required to wear a mask during performances.
• Cost: $86-$10
• For more information: Call 574-235-9190 or visit morriscenter.org.
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