On November 15 and 16, Thomas Wilkins will guest conduct the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring music by five African-American composers: Adolphus Hailstork, James Lee III, Florence Price, William Grant Still, and Duke Ellington. The concerts at Cincinnati Music Hall, entitled “American Life,” are part of a new series created by the CSO’s Multicultural Awareness Council (MAC) that this season will highlight artists and composers traditionally underrepresented in orchestral music. “American Life” is the first concert in the series. The November 15-16 concerts will include Price’s Piano Concerto, with pianist Louis Schwizgebel; Hailstork’s An American Port of Call; James Lee III’s Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula; Still’s Symphony No. 1 (“Afro-American”); and Ellington’s Harlem. Wilkins is music director of the Omaha Symphony; principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; and community engagement youth and family concerts conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Posted November 14, 2019
