The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will celebrate legendary African-American composers via American Life at Over-the-Rhine’s Music Hall.
Kicking off with Adolphus Hailstork’s “An American Port of Call,” the concert will explore works by James Lee III, Florence Price, William Grant Still and Jazz giant Duke Ellington.
Of the latter, Ellington’s composition “Harlem” will be performed, manifesting a Sunday morning walk through the New York neighborhood in the early-1950s. In Ellington’s memoir, he writes of the work: “It is Sunday morning. We a strolling from 110th Street up Seventh Avenue, heading north through the Spanish and West Indian neighborhood towards the 125th Street business area… You may hear a parade go by, or a funeral or you may recognize the passage of those who are making Civil Rights demands.”
Immerse yourself in this experience, among others, during this two-hour concert. Thomas Wilkins conducts and Louis Schwizgebel is on piano.
11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 15; 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16. $14-$107. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, cincinnatisymphony.org.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 12, 2019.
