Concert Notes from our Music Director, William Henry Curry – Promise of America, October 20, 2024
The phrase “The Promise of America” means different things to different people. For me, it has always meant that America (despite setbacks) has been an ever-improving country that is gradually but inexorably struggling towards fulfillment of its creed that “all people are created equal.”
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As we near the end of this turbulent and polarizing election season, the DSO and I hope that our October 20th concert might proclaim an aspect of patriotism by celebrating our shared love for great American music. This concert will feature a variety of selections by American composers who were inspired by our native folk music–that which could be called “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
That very phrase from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address inspired the opening movement, “Awakening,” from the Symphony No. 6 (“Gettysburg”) by Roy Harris. We will pay tribute to U.S. veterans with Morton Gould’s American Salute (a setting of the Civil war song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”) and with Richard Rodgers’ music from the WW2 documentary Victory at Sea. “Nimble Feet,” by trail-blazing African American composer Florence Price (the first African American woman to write a symphony), comes from her Dances in the Canebrakes, a series of bucolic scenes from the South. The work was originally for solo piano, but we will perform its colorful orchestration by William Grant Still, the first African American man to write a symphony! Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land was inspired by the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and the “mystic chords of memory” so many Americans feel regarding the land itself—a collective nostalgia for America’s rural past. Rounding out the program will be selections from Copland’s beloved Old American Songs performed by two brilliant local singers: Elizabeth Williams-Taylor (soprano) and Scott MacLeod (baritone).
Please join us at the Hayti Heritage Center at 3 PM on Sunday, October 20th, for the Durham Symphony’s celebration of America’s priceless musical heritage!
All the best,
William Henry Curry
Music Director, Durham Symphony
Comprehensive Editor (Text): Suzanne Bolt
Copy Editor & Digital Layout: Marianne Ward
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We gratefully acknowledge support from the City of Durham, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund and the N.C. Arts Council (a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources).
