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American Music at Bromsgrove - Roman Kosyakov plays Rhapsody In Blue

Part of the ESO 2022

Add to my Calendar 08-07-2022 19:30 08-07-2022 21:30 36 American Music at Bromsgrove - Roman Kosyakov plays Rhapsody In Blue ‘We rise together, or we don’t rise at all’ – William Grant Still William Grant Still was a remarkable man and pioneer who achieved an astonishing number of firsts in his lifetime and was often referred to as the ‘Dean of Afro-American Composers’. He was the first African-American composer to conduct a major symphony orchestra, the first to have his own symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed on national TV and the first to conduct a major symphony in the Deep South. His concerto, Dismal Swamp, is a symphonic poem for orchestra based on a two-stanza poem written by his wife, Verna Arvey, depicting enslaved people’s flight to freedom and tonight, Roman Kosyakov will bring this work to life, alongside Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring one of the most instantly recognisable ascending glissandos in music! In a similar vein to William Grant Still, Aaron Copland was hailed as the ‘Dean of American Composers’ for his ability to capture the vast American landscape and the spirit of its people in his music. Perhaps one of Copland’s most seminal works, Appalachian Spring is quintessentially ‘American’ in sound and character and tonight the ESO are delighted to perform this Suite as well as Quiet City, an ode to New York city. Bromsgrove School, Bromsgrove DD/MM/YYYY

Details

Bromsgrove School
Routh Concert Hall
Worcester Road
Bromsgrove
Worcestershire
B61 7DU
England

Programme

William Grant Still – Navajo Country
William Grant Still – The Phantom Chapel
William Grant Still – Summerland
William Grant Still – Dismal Swamp
George Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Aaron Copland – Quiet City
Aaron Copland – Appalachian Spring (1945 - orchestra)

Performers

Roman Kosyakov – piano
Kenneth Woods – Conductor
Rebecca Wood – cor anglais
Stuart Essenhigh – trumpet

English Symphony Orchestra

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Programme Note

‘We rise together, or we don’t rise at all’

– William Grant Still

William Grant Still was a remarkable man and pioneer who achieved an astonishing number of firsts in his lifetime and was often referred to as the ‘Dean of Afro-American Composers’. He was the first African-American composer to conduct a major symphony orchestra, the first to have his own symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed on national TV and the first to conduct a major symphony in the Deep South. His concerto, Dismal Swamp, is a symphonic poem for orchestra based on a two-stanza poem written by his wife, Verna Arvey, depicting enslaved people’s flight to freedom and tonight, Roman Kosyakov will bring this work to life, alongside Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring one of the most instantly recognisable ascending glissandos in music!

In a similar vein to William Grant Still, Aaron Copland was hailed as the ‘Dean of American Composers’ for his ability to capture the vast American landscape and the spirit of its people in his music. Perhaps one of Copland’s most seminal works, Appalachian Spring is quintessentially ‘American’ in sound and character and tonight the ESO are delighted to perform this Suite as well as Quiet City, an ode to New York city.

Roman Kosyakov

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