Opening Night! Travels, Tales, & Dances

Nothing travels better than music. So pack your bags. We’re heading to Cuba for a spicy Marquez cocktail: catchy melodies infectious rhythms and of course that signature conga kick. And we’ll leave it all on the left Bank where Gershwin jazzes up the City of Lights with love laughter and a little longing for home in the music that inspired the movie An American in Paris. Then we’ll tone it all down with Piazzolla’s hauntingly beautiful tango—Oblivion—straight from Argentina’s soul.

By the way we’ll lose ourselves in a piece that was once lost itself. Florence Price wrote this vivacious violin concerto in 1952 one year before her unexpected death. It was never performed never published. Almost five decades later it was discovered by accident in an abandoned house she once owned 70 miles south of Chicago. Melissa White a stunning soloist and founding member of the Grammy-winning Harlem Quartet is making up for lost time. She’s embraced Price’s music and—what can we say?—they’re oh-so much better together. This is going to be a dazzling debut.

PROGRAM

ARTURO MARQUEZ

Conga Del Fuego Nuevo (New Fire Conga)

FLORENCE PRICE

Violin Concerto No. 1

Featuring soloist Melissa White

GEORGE WHITEFIELD CHADWICK

Overture to Rip Van Winkle

ASTOR PIAZZOLLA

Tango: Oblivion

GEORGE GERSHWIN

An American in Paris

PERFORMERS

Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra

Steven Karidoyanes conductor

Melissa White violin

Host or Publisher The Phil