Awakening

The Yale Symphony Orchestra joins forces with the Yale Glee Club and the Elms City Girls Choir for a monumental performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. The concert opens with Carlos Simon’s “Waltz,” a “gesture of reclamation” towards the appearance of debutante balls in Black social circles during the 1930s. Duke Ellington’s River Suite is a spiritual poem of water: when the water reaches the sea, he writes, “the river is no longer a river. It has passed its point of disembarkation and here we realize the validity of the foundation of religion which is the HEAVENLY ANTICIPATION OF REBIRTH.” Christopher Theofanidis’ “Rainbow Serpent” gains inspiration from Australian aboriginal creation myths, where all humans are connected by “dreamtime ancestors.” And Copland’s Billy the Kid follows the bravado of the infamous American outlaw of the Old-West.

Carlos Simon - "Waltz" from Four Black American Dances

Duke Ellington - River Suite

Igor Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms

Christopher Theofanidis - Rainbow Serpent

Aaron Copland - Billy the Kid

Host or Publisher Yale Symphony Orchestra