Negro Folk Symphony
'I hope the audience will hear that only a black person could have written this,' William Dawson said of his Negro Folk Symphony, now composed 91 years ago.
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2hours
85-90musicians
1interval
1free drink
"My music tastes like cod," Edvard Grieg thought, referring to the salty Norwegian folk melodies that permeate his work. With African-American William Dawson, he has a kindred spirit. 'I hope the audience will hear that only a black could have written this,' he said of his Negro Folk Symphony (1934) - inspired by spirituals, West African rhythms and the history of 250 years of slavery. A revelation.
Programme & performers
Strauss Don Juan
Grieg Piano concerto
Dawson Negro Folk Symphony (Dutch premiere)
DirigentRoderick Cox
PianoAlexander Gavrylyuk
A history of 250 years of slavery
A piece comparable, if not superior, in quality, to orchestral works by the much-better-known William Grant Still and the now-ubiquitous Florence Price, with whom he must have rubbed collegial elbows in Chicago.
All play dates of Negro Folk Symphony
Watch, listen and marvel:
