About this concert
The United States is celebrating its 250th anniversary. As a salute, we are performing a programme consisting entirely of works by Black American composers, all under the direction of Antony Hermus. The renowned trumpet player and composer Wynton Marsalis has made a career combining jazz and classical music. In his Trumpet Concerto, we hear a trumpeting elephant, references to the French Baroque style, the blues, Louis Armstrong, the European-Jewish trumpet tradition and much more. The soloist is our very own principal trumpet player Miro Petkov.
We'll also be performing the Dutch premiere of Pulse by the young American composer Brian Raphael Nabors and William Dawson’s expressive Negro Folk Symphony , which was a smashing success the first time it was performed in 1934. Along with similarly lauded works by William Grant Still and Florence Price in those years, the work seemed to herald a more inclusive period for classical music, a change which ultimately failed to materialise. Unfortunately, Dawson would write no more symphonies.
In his Trumpet Concerto, we hear a trumpeting elephant, references to the French Baroque style, the blues, Louis Armstrong, the European-Jewish trumpet tradition and much more.
