Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Angel Blue Soprano
Aucoin Suite from Eurydice (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission)
Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Coleman This Is Not a Small Voice (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission)
Price Symphony No. 1
In a performance grounded in our shared connection to a sense of place, soprano Angel Blue transports us to Knoxville: Summer of 1915 through Samuel Barber’s dream-like depiction of the world through the eyes of a child. Valerie Coleman creates an inspiring new vocal work to a text by Philadelphia poet Sonia Sanchez. Florence Price paints an orchestral picture of her life as a Black woman raised in the Post-Civil War South in her First Symphony, steeped in American folk music, spirituals, and church hymns. In 1933, this piece was the first symphonic work by a Black woman to be played by a major American orchestra. Plus, the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Suite from his opera Eurydice.