Join us for a landmark event celebrating 50 years of the Durham Symphony and 16 years with Maestro William Henry Curry as we’ve served our community, promoted music education, and uplifted the love and legacy of American Classical Music.  The event brings together many of DSO’s long-time community and arts partners, including the Pauli Murray Center, Hayti Heritage Center, and student musicians from Kidznotes.

The concert includes a world premiere of a celebratory work by Maestro Curry, (commissioned by DSO) as well as Letters from Home by Aaron Copland and Letters to America, a new work by North Carolina composer Brittany J. Green, co-commissioned by the DSO and the American Composers Orchestra, featuring Grammy Award-winning soprano Karen Slack. The work uses text derived from historical sources and public contributions and marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by centering the voices, stories, and experiences of Black women.

The program closes with Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”), which anchored Maestro Curry’s first performance with the DSO. This beloved symphony offers yet another lens on America—that of a great European composer whose mature work showcases the innate beauty and grandeur of America’s folk themes.