Join us on Sunday, July 4th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, July 5th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 to hear a Philadelphia Orchestra concert from 2017. It's works by American composers born and trained in the U.S.A, and a Czech master who wrote some of his most enduring compositions while living in the States. The American conductor James Gaffigan, who is chief conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and now Principal Guest Conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera in Norway, conducts George Gershwin's Promenade (Walking the Dog), and teams up with pianist Jon Kimura Parker for a performance of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F.
Antonín Dvo?ák spent two-and-a-half years in America after being recruited by a visionary patron to head a music conservatory in New York City; we’ll hear one of his compositions dating from that time, his Suite in A Major, the "American."
And to conclude the concert, the powerful and masterful First Symphony by a composer claimed by Philadelphia as one of its own, Samuel Barber. Born in West Chester, PA, and trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, he would go on to become one of the great composers of the 20th century.
Written while Barber was still in his 20s, and not long after graduating from Curtis, his Symphony No. 1 is a one-movement masterpiece.
During intermission back in November, 2017, WRTI’s Susan Lewis spoke backstage with conductor James Gaffigan, and Bliss Michelson met with pianist Jon Kimura Parker.
Read detailed program notes from the concert.
PROGRAM
Gershwin: Promenade (Walking the Dog)
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
INTERMISSION
Dvorak: Suite in A (“American”)
Barber: Symphony No. 1
The Philadelphia Orchestra
James Gaffigan, conductor
Gregg Whiteside is producer and host of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 pm on WRTI 90.1, streaming online at WRTI.org, and on our mobile app! Listen again on Mondays at 7 pm on WRTI HD-2.
