Music Director Peter Bay and the Austin Symphony Orchestra.
In Monday’s (5/10) CBS Austin (Texas), a video segment reports, “The Austin Symphony Orchestra is preparing to wrap up its Masterworks Series season with a grand finale performance titled ‘Summertime,’ featuring George Gershwin’s iconic opera, ‘Porgy and Bess.’ Music Director and Conductor Peter Bay shared insights into the upcoming event … Gershwin was a pioneer in bridging the gap between classical music and popular music with many songs like ‘Summertime,’ ‘I Got Plenty ’o Nuttin’’ and ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ cementing their places in music history…. The performance will be 75-minute version of the original work … In addition to Gershwin’s work, the orchestra will open with young, living composer Carlos Simon’s stirring ‘Amen!’ Simon is an in-demand Black American composer who wrote ‘Amen!’ about his upbringing in the African American Pentecostal Church. ‘Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert… were all living composers at one time, and if they hadn’t been supported as younger people who knows if we’d ever hear their music. We feel the same and that’s why we’re playing Carlos’s piece,’ Bay said…. In 2026, every [Vermont Symphony] concert will include an American piece of music to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.” The season will also feature a program of flamenco-inspired music.
