Andris Nelsons conducts Still, Walker, and Brahms featuring Latonia Moore, soprano and Seong-Jin Cho, piano
Tanglewood
Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA
Working in the middle of the 20th century, William Grant Still was a pioneer in using music of his African American heritage in works ranging from piano miniatures to opera. He wrote In Memoriam in 1943 after reading an announcement “that the first American soldier killed in World War II was a Negro soldier.” His somber piece honored the patriotism of all soldiers of color that served in the Allied armies. Soprano Latonia Moore sings American composer George Walker's Lilacs, a setting of Walt Whitman's ode to Abraham Lincoln. Commissioned by the BSO and premiered under Seiji Ozawa in February 1996, Lilacs went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music. Young superstar Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho is soloist in Johannes Brahms’ virtuosic and profound Piano Concerto No. 2 to complete the program.
Gates open at 12pm
Performance Details
Jul 24, 2022, 2:30pm EDT
Program Notes & Works
In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy
Lilacs, for soprano and orchestra
Piano Concerto No. 2
It was the last work Brahms added to his repertory as a pianist, and for someone who had long given up regular practicing to have gotten through it at all is amazing.
