Get in touch with your spiritual side as we explore three works by American composers influenced by different forms of the sacred. Copland’s Appalachian Spring takes a traditional Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts,” and paints majestic strokes to evoke a traditional simplicity of American rural life.
Theofanidis was inspired to compose Lighting, with Life… by several anonymous American Indian poems with a common thread of a supernatural sense of nature, and he was deeply influenced by September 11th occurred as he was writing the piece. We are excited for Music Director Jacob Sustaita to take a break from the podium to perform as the featured viola soloist for this piece.
Finally, Still’s Afro-American Symphony combines the symphonic form with blues progressions and rhythms as well as with African American spirituals.
Conducted by Douglas Diamond
Works Performed
- Theofanidis, Christopher, Lightning with Life, in Four Colors Comes Down with soloist Jacob Sustaita, viola
- Still, William Grant, Symphony #3 “Afro-American”
- Copland, Aaron, Appalachian Spring
Dates Performed
- March 8, 2014