Worthington Chamber Orchestra: Woven Stories: American Stories of Hope (Music Director)
Sun, Feb 04
|Worthington United Methodist Church
American Stories of Hope highlights themes surrounding the African American experience and the enduring power of hope that all Americans rely on when overcoming oppression and challenges.
Time & Location
Feb 04, 2024, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST
Worthington United Methodist Church, 600 High St, Worthington, OH 43085, USA
About the Event
Antoine T. Clark, conductor
Ucelli: The Columbus Cello Quartet
Mark Lomax II, composer
Mary Madison, fiber artist
Program:
Jessie Montgomery: Soul Force
Mark Lomax II: New Work (world premiere)
William Grant Still: Darker America
Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring Suite
American Stories of Hope highlights themes surrounding the African American experience and the enduring power of hope that all Americans rely on when overcoming oppression and challenges. Underrepresented in the classical music canon, Black composers often articulate themes of struggle, hope, triumph over racism, and the fight for civil rights. Florence Price, William Dawson, and William Grant Still wrote symphonies during the 1930s that wove African American musical styles and culture into the symphonic form. At the center of those monumental symphonies was an underlying theme of hope. Worthington’s historical connection to the African American experience and openness to Blacks in the 1800s is a source of inspiration for this program. Despite Ohio’s Black Laws discouraging Black people from settling in the early 1800s, Worthington still embraced Blacks in its community.