New York Times previews NJSO Florence Price concerto performances
The New York Times previews NJSO performances of Florence Price’s Piano Concerto, November 29–December 2.
THE NEW YORK TIMES As Price’s music is increasingly recognized by a previously neglectful classical mainstream, the concerto has begun to see the wider renown it deserves. This week in Newark and New Brunswick, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra places it alongside other modernist classics including Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” led by the imaginatively improvisational pianist Aaron Diehl and conductor Joshua Weilerstein.
Rhapsody in Blue & The Firebird
2018–19 Season
JOSHUA WEILERSTEIN conductor
AARON DIEHL piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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MILHAUD La création du monde
French composer Milhaud heard jazz in Harlem during a 1922 visit and brought the sound back to Paris for this lively ballet based on African folk mythology.
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GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin called this iconic piece “a musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our national pep, of our blues, our metropolitan madness.”
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PRICE Piano Concerto (NJSO Premiere)
Florence Price was the first African-American female composer to be performed by major orchestras; her lush concerto skillfully blends classical and popular styles. Read an article from The New Yorker on the “The Rediscovery of Florence Price: How an African-American composer’s works were saved from destruction.”
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STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1919)
Lavish, vibrant, iconic; tells the tale of the Firebird, whose power is brilliantly illustrated by the thrilling score.