PROGRAM NOTES AND COMPOSER FEATURE

Ken-David Masur, music director of the Milwaukee Symphony, joins the NRO for another splendid concert. Masur has selected music that celebrates the power of music to stir one’s soul.

Multiculturalism is at the heart of Gabriela Lena Frank’s music. The California native describes herself as “Peruvian-ChineseJewish-Lithuanian,” and her music embraces the inspiration of many people and lands. Three Latin American Dances will take you on a memorable journey, from the vivacious rhythms of “Jungle Jaunt” to the mysterious Andean sounds of “Highland Harawi” and concluding in an affectionate tribute to “mestizo” or mixed-race music in “Mestizo Waltz.”

Expect nothing but the best when you hear NRO musicians, both in the orchestra and as soloists. NRO clarinetist Nickolas Hamblin will dazzle you with seemingly impossible notes, runs, and arpeggios in Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto.

Antonín Dvořák had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of melodies, and his Seventh Symphony is no exception. Revel in the beauty of the Czech countryside and the bustling cities of his beloved homeland as this symphony explores both with more than a touch of melancholy. Allow yourself to be swept up by the soaring melodies, linger over moments of quiet intimacy, and exult in the boldness of this masterwork.

© Eric T. Williams

-INTERMISSION-

Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904)

Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141

I. Allegro maestoso

II. Poco adagio

III. Scherzo: Vivace – Poco meno mosso

IV. Finale: Allegro

Composer Feature

Gabriela Lena Frank

Currently serving as Composer-in-Residence with the storied Philadelphia Orchestra and included in the Washington Post’s list of the most significant women composers in history (August, 2017), identity has always been at the center of composer/pianist Gabriela Lena Frank’s music.

Born in Berkeley, California (September, 1972), to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Gabriela explores her multicultural heritage through her compositions.

Gabriela attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (1994) and Master of Arts degree (1996). She received a Doctor of Musical Art degree in composition in 2001 from the University of Michigan. She currently resides in Boonville, a small rural town in the Anderson Valley, with her husband Jeremy on their mountain farm, has a second home in her native Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has traveled extensively in Andean South America.

Gabriela is a member of Wise Music/G. Schirmer’s prestigious roster of artists, exclusively managed and published. Winner of a Latin Grammy and nominated for Grammys as both composer and pianist, Gabriela also holds a Guggenheim Fellowship and a USA Artist Fellowship given each year to fifty of the country’s finest artists.