New World Symphony

Conducted by Mei-Ann Chen
June 7, 7:30pm
Charleston Gaillard Center

Ethiopia’s Shadow in America, Florence Price
Delights and Dances, Michael Abels
Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” Antonin Dvorak

A composer rooted in the Czech folk tradition of his homeland, Antonin Dvorak arrived in New York in the early 1890s hungry for the “American sound.” Seeking inspiration in the music of Black and indigenous America, he soon composed his ninth symphony, an indelible work of spirit befitting the wide-open spaces of this New World and a triumph which remains among the most popular orchestral works of all time. In this concert, Maestra Mei-Ann Chen, the music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, pairs Dvorak’s showpiece with compositions by Florence Price, her teacher George Whitefield Chadwick, and Michael Abels—three artists who have shaped American classical music.