Composer

In partnership with the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, we are pleased to present RÊVERIE: Dreams of Harlem and Paris, featuring three founding members of Imani Winds.
Rêverie returns to the early twentieth century through the perspectives of Black artists at the center of “Le Jazz Hot” and the legendary Harlem Renaissance. 

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Valerie Coleman & Friends

August Wilson African American Cultural Center

Rêverie returns to the early twentieth century through the perspectives of Black artists at the center of “Le Jazz Hot” and the legendary Harlem Renaissance. 

 

Valerie Coleman, GRAMMY-nominated founding flutist of Imani Winds, is a multi-talented composer, musician, and educator who was named Performance Today’s 2020 Classical Woman of the Year. This sizzling program brings together six powerhouse artists to perform three of Coleman’s compositions and works by Ravel, Debussy and Grant Still.

CityMusic Cleveland is a professional chamber orchestra dedicated to making music accessible through free concerts and innovative programming. Since its inception in 2004, CityMusic has built partnerships with communities across Northeast Ohio, bringing exceptional performances to longtime music lovers and first-time audience members alike.

CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra: “American Roots”

Cleveland Museum of Art

Still’s “Autochthonous” Symphony No. 4, a radiantly lyrical tribute to those who have triumphed over a difficult past, honors the American people’s optimism and dreams of hope. Copland’s Lincoln Portrait highlights the 16th president’s character and thoughts in music threaded with selections from his celebrated writings. A new work by Portland musician, writer, and storyteller Gabriel Kahane rounds out this program of modern Americana.

Kahane, Still & Copland

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

South Salem High School

Join the Royal Oak Symphony Orchestra as we celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary with our October 23, 2026 concert. This special evening features nostalgic favorites and American composers.

Celebrating 250!! ROSO

Royal Oak Middle School

For its 64th concert season, your Bloomington Symphony Orchestra continues the nation’s semi-quincentennial celebration by featuring the music of three composers who are synonymous with American music. After opening with William Schuman’s take on the old Colonial-era hymn “Chester,” we’ll visit with William Grant Still as he accompanies us on a symphonic visit via the musical stylings of his time and life experiences as expressed in his Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American.” After intermission, Maestro Laureano will lead the audience through a close look at An American in Paris, showing you what makes it such a memorable and special work.

American Journey

St. Michael’s Lutheran Church

Our opening program celebrates America’s 250th with three distinct works by a trio of America’s great composers. William Grant Still’s blues-infused Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American,” was the first work by a Black composer to be performed by a major U.S. orchestra and remains one of the most popular American symphonies of all time. Acclaimed pianist Sara Davis Buechner will bring George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue to life in a high-octane celebration of American spirit – a piece that famously blends the gritty soul of the Jazz Age with the sophisticated structure of European classical music. Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3, with its iconic focal point—the majestic “Fanfare for the Common Man”—is known as the “greatest American symphony,” celebrating the citizens, laborers, and soldiers of the World War II era.

Vista Philharmonic Orchestra – All American

Groton Hill Music Center

From the open landscapes of Copland’s Appalachian Spring to the spiritual-inspired lyricism of Florence Price’s Piano Concerto, from the symphonic warmth of William Grant Still to the electrifying rhythms of Bernstein’s West Side Story, this concert is a vibrant journey through American music at its most exciting. Rising star Jeneba Kanneh-Mason joins conductor Kellen Gray for a concert packed with orchestral colour and irresistible rhythm.

RSNO Season 26-27: West Side Story

Usher Hall

What defines the American sound? Cellist Zuill Bailey leads the premiere of Visions of Humanity, a bold suite of variations by five living composers reflecting on shared experience from strikingly different perspectives. Framing the work is a portrait of America, from Copland’s Shaker simplicity and William Grant Still’s lyric warmth to the cinematic sweeping landscapes of Billy the Kid.

Americana

Martin Woldson Theater

RNCM hosts the official Northern launch show for Meraki Duo’s debut album, Notes from the Living Room, following its worldwide release on Delphian Records (Fri 11 Sep 2026). (London launch: Mon 7 Sep 2026 at Ronnie Scott’s). Hear the internationally sought-after, prize-winning duo of British flautist of Trinidadian heritage Meera Maharaj (Chineke! Orchestra, Meliora Collective) and Oslo-based British guitarist James Girling (Agbeko, The Easy Rollers) perform their record in full. Autumn 2026 marks 13 years since the duo formed as first-year undergraduate students at the RNCM, making this an especially meaningful homecoming for Meraki Duo.

Meraki Duo

RNCM (Royal Northern College of Music)

Autochthonous refers to peoples originating in the place where they are found presently – despite ancestral background or genetic origination. This program celebrates the many vibrant and multifaceted identities of the collective American spirit, but it was inspired by this single word that is a constant compass toward unity.

AuthochthonoUS: Stories of WE the People

Long Center for the Performing Arts Lafayette

The Richmond Symphony opens the 2026–27 season with three groundbreaking American voices. Bernstein’s sparkling Candide Overture sets the stage. Artist-in-Residence Xavier Foley brings his signature style to Soul Bass, a genre-defying concerto for double bass and orchestra. William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony offers a rich, blues-infused portrait of American life and legacy. A bold celebration of creativity, identity, and the power of music to tell our stories. 

Bernstein, Foley & Still

Dominion Energy Center

Concert and film composer Max Richter’s stunning reimagining of Vivaldi’s iconic Four Seasons has become a viral hit since its 2012 premiere. Another perennial favorite, Mozart’s 40th symphony, has long been heard as a gateway to the Romantic age. Its conflicts and turbulence are illuminated a dark beauty that listeners have always found deeply consoling.

Four Seasons Recomposed & Mozart’s 40th

Bethel AME Church

Hatch Memorial Shell

Twelfth Baptist Church

Landmarks celebrates America 250 and Boston’s rich and diverse musical heritage with a program featuring Bernstein’s beloved Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, William Grant Still’s multi-faceted portrait of America in his Symphony No. 4, and several sparkling miniatures by Leroy Anderson. Partners include Marcus Santos and his Grooversity Brazilian drumming ensemble, members of Berklee’s Reverence Gospel Ensemble, and Everyone250.

Best of Boston

The Los Angeles Philharmonic performs an all-American program depicting scenes from the women’s suffrage movement, gentle lullabies, and vibrant city streets. New York City comes to life in both the dances from Leonard Bernstein’s beloved musical On the Town and Duke Ellington’s orchestral suite Harlem.

Wilkins Conducts Bernstein & Ellington

Hollywood Bowl

For a long time, the music of Nikolai Kapustin was known only to a few people in the Soviet Union. It’s only in the last couple of decades that his unique fusion of classical and jazz has reached a wider audience.

London Phoenix Orchestra are joined by Kapustin specialist Ophelia Gordon, whose debut album of his music has been highly acclaimed, for a rare performance of his Fifth Piano Concerto.

William Grant Still’s First Symphony, ‘Afro-American’, provides contrast and context for the Kapustin – the first symphony written by an African American to be performed by a major orchestra, it combines classical form with the language of the blues.

London Phoenix Orchestra

Cadogan Hall 

Ruth Kim, violin

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

West Side Story is a singular, iconic musical theater work that combines the genius of Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, and Arthur Laurents. Based on Shakespeare’s play Romeo & Juliet, the musical stylizations draw heavily from jazz, Afro-Caribbean, and Mexican sources.

America@250

Stefanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts

A Grand Finale (2025-2026 Season)

Pantages Theater

Rush Hour Performance: Afro-Asian Influences

The Juilliard School

American Mosaic

Westlake City School

A concert full of beauty, optimism, and the American spirit! William Grant Still’s Wood Notes paints a musical picture of the natural world, followed by Barber’s gorgeous and expressive Violin Concerto. We end with Copland’s Appalachian Spring, a heartwarming and hopeful tribute to new beginnings, capturing the promise of a young pioneer couple starting their life together.

Promise of America

Texas Lutheran University

An all-American spectacular caps off the season as we celebrate our country’s 250th birthday. The best of our nation’s music is represented in this program, from jazz to ragtime to Broadway, crowned by Ferde Grofé’s grand symphonic masterwork, the Grand Canyon Suite, celebrating the amazing natural wonder in our own backyard.

POPS Concert:  America 250 Celebration

Sedona Performing Arts Center

We begin with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1, celebrating the 100th anniversary of its premiere. In the second half, William Grant Still’s Serenade reflects American folk music. Then, listen for elements of jazz, blues, and ragtime as pianist Terrence Wilson performs Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F Major.

Shostakovich, Still, & Gershwin

The Oncenter Civic Center Theaters

New York-based Harlem Quartet has been praised for its “panache” by The New York Times and hailed in the Cincinnati Enquirer for “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent.” Harlem Quartet advances diversity in classical music while engaging new audiences with varied repertoire that includes works by minority composers. Their mission to share their passion with a wider audience has taken them around the world, including a 2009 performance at The White House and a successful tour of South Africa.

Guest Artists: Harlem Quartet, Visiting Quartet, 'Folk Inspirations'

Arizona State University Tempe Campus

Celebrate the ingenuity, independence, and pure joy of American music. In five concerts over four days, pianists-in-residence Peter Dugan, Avery Gagliano, and Jonathan Mamora will be joined by mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan and local musicians to explore the ways music reflects the American experience.

Cliburn Festival America 250: American Classics

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

British violinist Callum Smart returns by popular demand to Lexington Symphony to perform Shostakovich’s evocative Violin Concerto No. 1. Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned by Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Serge Koussevitsky in 1943. This popular piece is filled with opportunities for each section of the orchestra to shine as the piece builds to an exuberant conclusion.

Pushing the Limits

Isaac Harris Cary Memorial Building

William Grant Still wrote more than 150 compositions, merging musical aspects of his African American heritage with traditional European classical forms. Originally composed for solo piano, Summerland (1937) is a short, intensely expressive elegy — dreamy and atmospheric, suggesting the summer of its title, with hints of the blues and a nod to his fellow composer Debussy. Motivated by the poems of Paul Verlaine (1844-1896), Debussy’s 1889 Petite Suite (Small Suite) was originally composed for piano duet and later orchestrated by his colleague Henri Büsser. The four movements of this whimsical tone poem paint musical pictures of 18th-century aristocrats on country outings, a romantic boat ride at dusk on a dark lake, a playful menuetto, and a sparkling ballet.  Mahler’s fourth symphony is a contrapuntal, folk-tune inspired musical journey from experience to innocence, from complexity to simplicity, and from earthly life to heaven, complete with tender string passages, brass chorales, and lilting soprano lines. Klaus Simon’s 2007 chamber arrangement retains Mahler’s unmistakable orchestral sound in a way that enables chamber orchestras to perform this intimate and tender symphony.

Classics III: Dreams of Heaven & Earth

West Ottawa High School Performing Arts Center

Featuring the ethereal “Morning Mood” and the hair-raising “In the Hall of the Mountain King”—both pop-culture staples you’ll recognize instantly—Grieg’s Peer Gynt is one of classical music’s most enduringly popular works. Prepare for a magical theatrical experience bringing the Peer Gynt story to vivid life. Bewitching works by Sibelius and William Grant Still round out a concert steeped in legend and enchantment.

Grieg’s Peer Gynt

Jones Hall

March Concert 2026

Pomona College

The LSU Symphonic Band opens their Spring 2026 season with a concert titled “Kaleidoscopes”. Featuring a wide range of styles and influences, this concert includes the music of Katahj Copley, Steven Bryant, Kevin Day, and Erica Svanoe. This concert concludes with William Grant Still’s Folk Suite for Band.

LSU Symphonic Band Presents "Kaleidoscopes"

Louisiana State University

Join us for an inspiring evening of music that reflects the spirit, diversity, and rich cultural tapestry of America. In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, this program features works rooted in American identity and history – both homegrown and seen through the eyes of an admirer. The evening opens with William Grant Still’s Miniatures for Woodwind Quintet – a charming collection of folk-inspired vignettes drawn from various cultures across the Americas, followed by Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and concluding with Antonín Dvořák’s “American” String Quartet, a work infused with the rhythms and melodies of African American spirituals and Native American music.

American Impressions

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

Who gets to speak for a nation? Who dares to tell its histories, raise its flag, and call its citizens to a more unified future? The MPO joins forces with One Voice Mixed Chorus in an evening of fanfare, song, and symphony.

A Simple Song

St. Catherine University

The Sphinx Virtuosi, a dynamic self-conducted chamber orchestra comprised of 18 accomplished Black and Latinx artists, returns to CAMA with a program titled Visions of Peace. Featuring acclaimed violinist Randall Goosby, the concert explores themes of resilience, peace, and shared humanity through a diverse range of musical voices. The Sphinx Virtuosi are celebrated for their “immeasurable power, unwavering command, and soulful beauty” (The Washington Post) and their commitment to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts.

Sphinx Virtuosi

Lobero Theatre

In a unique convergence of musical voices, this program beckons us into a realm where music becomes an emissary of peace and unity. On this journey, we hope to lift every voice and remember our complex history while looking toward our shared journey toward a brighter tomorrow. We explore peace while remembering the conflict of past and present and recognizing the repeated history and the resilience of the human spirit. From William Grant Still, celebrated as the “Dean of African American Composers,” to José White's stirring Cuban melodies, every note resonates with our collective aspirations for harmony and understanding without borders. This is a collection of new voices, those that have already shaped our canon and those that we hope will continue to be celebrated long after our time together. As Alberto Ginastera's Concerto for Strings takes us toward a triumphant crescendo, you will join us in a jubilant celebration of the human spirit's indomitable resilience and our unwavering commitment to the pursuit of peace. We reflect on themes of war, anguish, and loss through Ruben Rengel's setting of Prokofiev's "Stalingrad" Sonata. Jessie Montgomery's music helps us transcend boundaries and borders, while our vision for shared humanity is brought together through Quenton Blache's title composition.

Sphinx Virtuosi with Randall Goosby

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Mendelssohn’s Joyful Blue Skies

New England Conservatory of Music

For this all-American program, the MSO features its principal harpist, Melanie Young, in a performance of Ennanga by William Grant Still.

This rarely heard work for harp, strings, and piano is a vivid reflection of the ennanga, an African harp-like instrument. Played on a modern harp, the piece has a calming, restorative quality that gently soothes the soul.

Sonic America

Hylton Performing Arts Center

The Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Symphonic Chorus, and Stanford University Singers come together to present a special Winter Quarter concert from the main stage of Bing Concert Hall.

Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Chorus, and University Singers

Stanford University

Premiered by trombonist Kenneth Thompkins and the DSO in 2023, Carlos Simon’s moving concerto commemorates the Underground Railroad and, in Simon’s words, “the stories, accounts, and experiences told by many enslaved people and abolitionists.” Thomas Wilkins also conducts William Grant Still’s vibrant and uplifting Fourth Symphony, which celebrates a wide variety of American musical cultures.

Classical Roots

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

This electrifying program celebrates the bold sounds and unmistakable spirit of American music. Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” brims with jazzy swagger, while Adams’ “Absolute Jest” spins Beethoven into a playful whirlwind. Barber’s Adagio for Strings offers a moment of breathtaking beauty, and Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony blends classical tradition with the soul of the blues in a powerful tale of resilience and joy.

An American Portrait: Gershwin, Barber & Beyond

Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

This concert celebrates the rich and varied voices that define American music. The first half features iconic works by Charles Ives, William Grant Still, and Aaron Copland—each capturing a distinct facet of American life, history, and ideals. The second half shifts to contemporary perspectives with Shuying Li’s meditative In This Breath and Clarice Assad’s dynamic Sin Fronteras, affirming the power of music to transcend boundaries, embrace diverse identities, and reflect the human experience in all its beautiful complexity.

Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Northwestern University

Faculty Recital of Shannon Thomas, violin & Stijn De Cock, piano

Longmire Alumni Building

Fanfare for the New World Symphony Concert

Neumann University

One of the most exciting young pianists of the new generation, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason has been taking the world by storm since her BBC Proms debut in 2022. She brings an exciting and eclectic programme of Claude Debussy, Ludwig van Beethoven and American composers Florence Price and William Grant Still, ending with Frédéric Chopin’s poetic third and fourth Ballades.

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason

Leeds Conservatoire

The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra that performs over 50 concerts annually around the state of West Virginia, and has a nationally award-winning education program. This concert features onstage actors from the WVU School of Theatre and Dance performing selected scenes.

WV Symphony Orchestra: Shakespeare on Stage

Canady Creative Arts Center

For over 25 years, the Miró Quartet has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages, showcasing their “collective intelligence [and] uncanny precision” (Musical America). Their program includes excerpts from master works by Samuel Barber and Florence Price, as well as a PCMS co-commission for soprano and quartet by the genre-defying, Brooklyn-based composer Tamar-kali. The new work spotlights Philadelphia’s own soprano Karen Slack, who brings “the right mix of grace and fire” (Schmopera) to this much-anticipated local premiere.

Miró Quartet Karen Slack, soprano

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The Sphinx Virtuosi are an inspiring self-conducted chamber orchestra that transforms lives through the power of music. Comprised of 18 Black and Latino artists who reflect the highest level of musicianship in America, the ensemble expands the breadth of classical music through artistic excellence, pioneering programming, and community engagement.

Visions of Peace, the ensemble’s UGA Presents debut program, imagines a world where music serves as an emissary of reconciliation and unity. From William Grant Still’s Suite for Violin — featuring the celebrated young violinist Randall Goosby — to José White’s stirring Cuban melodies, to Ruben Rengel’s setting of Prokofiev’s “Stalingrad” Sonata, this collection of new and familiar voices transcends borders in a jubilant celebration of the human spirit.

Sphinx Virtuosi : Randall Goosby, violin

University of Georgia Performing Arts Center

Shakespeare on Stage

Clay Center

The Virtuosi's latest program, Visions of Peace is a collection of new voices—those that have already shaped the canon and those that will continue to be celebrated long after our time together. The concert includes the Suite for Violin and Piano (arr. for cello and string orchestra by Randall Goosby), featuring the acclaimed young cellist Sterling Elliott.

Sphinx Virtuosi with Sterling Elliott, cello

Emory University

A vibrant celebration of fantasy and rhythm featuring prodigy British pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason and conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson — both returning to the MCO stage since last appearing in spring 2024 — this program is a tapestry of dance and reverie; a place where memory, motion, and music intertwine.

Dances of Dreams

Crescent Arts Centre

Twenty-one-year-old standout pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason — the third virtuoso of the Kanneh-Mason clan — has captivated audiences at the BBC Proms, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and London’s Wigmore Hall, performing “straight from the heart, with care, sparkle, and self-possession” (BBC Music Magazine). Her wide-ranging recital program reflects her curiosity, featuring works by composers showcased on her Spring 2025 debut solo album for Sony Classical.Twenty-one-year-old standout pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason — the third virtuoso of the Kanneh-Mason clan — has captivated audiences at the BBC Proms, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and London’s Wigmore Hall, performing “straight from the heart, with care, sparkle, and self-possession” (BBC Music Magazine). Her wide-ranging recital program reflects her curiosity, featuring works by composers showcased on her Spring 2025 debut solo album for Sony Classical.

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, piano (Baltimore Debut)

Johns Hopkins University

Symphonic music can often take the listener on unexpected and exciting emotional adventures. The Symphony Band presents “Diversions” – a concert of music beginning with the quirky marches of Ernst Krenek written 100 years ago. Through the music of luminaries like Casterede, Grainger and Still, we travel to the beach, an aquarium, a train station, and into a peaceful summer evening. The most enticing diversion of all comes from composer and guest electric guitar soloist, D.J. Sparr, who will transport us through a rocking musical landscape in his brand new concerto, co-commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band through the support of the H. Robert Reynolds Commissioning Fund.

Symphony Band

University of Michigan

This program, entitled "Rooted Voices: Folk, Faith, and the Modern Imagination", invites audiences on a journey through works that explore the intersections of heritage, spirituality, and modern expression. Featuring music by Joseph Bologne, Charles Ives, Lili Boulanger, William Grant Still, and Maurice Ravel, the program reflects how composers across centuries have turned to the spiritual and the vernacular—folk melodies, sacred songs, and cultural memory—to express both individuality and universality in sound.

Guest Artist Recital: Shannon Thomas (violin) and Stijn De Cock (piano)

St Alban's Chapel

USO 2025-26 Season Concert 3

Mendocino College

Martinů and Mozart

Downtown Ithaca Alliance (The Ithaca Commons)

Join the Santa Monica Symphony for our annual MLK concert, presented in partnership with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition and in collaboration with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. Led by guest conductors Gary Pratt (Santa Monica Symphony) and Charles Dickerson (ICYOLA), this inspiring program will feature music that celebrates unity, equality, and hope for a brighter future.

Scenes from Life: Unity (Annual MLK Concert)

Invoke was the Young Professional String Quartet in Residence at the University of Texas at Austin from 2016-2018. Since being selected as Interlochen’s Emerging Artists Quartet in 2014, the group has been a featured artist and on faculty at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp. The group also participated in the Emerging String Quartet Program at Stanford, and was an Artist in Residence at Strathmore and the Fellowship String Quartet at Wintergreen Performing Arts. In 2018, Invoke was named a winner of the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition in New York, NY, received First Prize at the M-Prize International Chamber Arts competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and received First Prize in the Coltman Competition in Austin, Texas.

Invoke

Bethel United Methodist Church

Winter Lights & Festive Nights

Mesquite Arts Center

Prepare for an extraordinary musical experience as two of the world’s most celebrated musicians, Hilary Hahn and Lang Lang, join forces for a one-night-only recital. A captivating journey through a curated program of classical masterworks, this exclusive event showcases the unparalleled virtuosity and artistry of these musical titans.

Hilary Hahn and Lang Lang

Celebrate Independence Day with the South Bend Symphony on July 4 with our annual Salute to Freedom concert, a patriotic celebration that honors our nation’s independence with moving American favorites such as “American Salute”, “God Bless America”, 1812 Overture, and more with guest soloist Jennie Sophia and guest narrator Muffet McGraw, former Notre Dame women’s basketball coach!

Salute To Freedom

Morris Performing Arts Center

A note from the Maestro: Our second concert in the 130th Season Masterworks series focuses on orchestral Americana with compositional styles that are as wide-reaching as the American frontier. Dvořák is well known for the style in which he culls musical material from traditional folk sources, and the Symphony No. 8 is laden with tunes he heard while composing in America. The new violin concerto by Wynton Marsalis blends jazz, blues and other classic folk styles into a canvas of American life and dreams and, in the music of William Grant Still, we hear a composer influenced by melodies and motives from the black American community as he skillfully weaves this material into traditional symphonic forms.

Symphonic Glory

University of Maine

Join the Culver City Symphony Orchestra and the SoCal Chorale in Veterans Auditorium for an uplifting tribute honoring courage and unity.

Summon the Heroes - a Culver City Symphony Orchestra Veterans Day Concert

Veterans Memorial Park Culver City

American cellist Julian Schwarz performs Bruch’s Kol Nidrei and Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Although Bruch himself was not Jewish, his haunting and evocative Kol Nidrei was inspired by two traditional Hebrew melodies and his friendships with Jewish musicians.

Inspired by Mozart, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme could not be more of a contrast with its early 18th century dance themes.

Beethoven’s Pastoral

Catalina Foothills High School

Celebration in Motion: Beethoven 7

Walton Arts Center

Remembrance

MassBay Community College

Conductor David Glover is known for his captivating interpretations and engaging presence on the podium. He is currently the Music Director of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra in Virginia and recently concluded a tenure as Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, where he led over 250 concerts, including performances of major choral repertoire such as Carmina Burana, the opening classical concert of the Symphony’s new hall in Wilmington, NC, and two statewide tours. He continues to maintain a close relationship with the North Carolina Symphony and conducts numerous concerts with them each year. Prior to his position with the North Carolina Symphony, Glover served as Assistant Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. 

Celebrate Emanuel Ax’s extraordinary career, and his special connection to this Orchestra, with a performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, the perfect showcase for this beloved pianist’s “sublime ... strength and warmth of tone” (Limelight).

Emanuel Ax Plays Beethoven

The natural world underscores VSO’s second concert at the Flynn in October, with birdsong, thunder, moonlight, and mushrooms as influence for a breadth of compositions. William Grant Still’s Wood Notes is inspired by the rich nature of the American South, and Chelsea Komschlies’ piece Mycelialore makes musical connections between fungal and neural networks in a piece commissioned by the League of American Orchestra’s Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program. The second half presents Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale”, a bucolic hymn to the countryside and nature. From stillness to dancing, and bird calls to storms, Beethoven’s ability to incorporate rural life in musical form is exemplified in the four movements of this work.

VSO at the Flynn: Pastoral Symphony

The Flynn

The natural world underscores VSO’s second concert at the Flynn in October, with birdsong, thunder, moonlight, and mushrooms as influence for a breadth of compositions. William Grant Still’s Wood Notes is inspired by the rich nature of the American South, and Chelsea Komschlies’ piece Mycelialore melds fantasy with forest and neural networks in a piece commissioned by the League of American Orchestra’s Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program. The second half presents Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale”, a bucolic hymn to the countryside and nature. From stillness to dancing, and bird calls to storms, Beethoven’s ability to incorporate rural life in musical form is exemplified in the four movements of this work.

VSO: Pastorale Symphony

SHCS’s 60th season opens with the pioneering Sphinx Virtuosi, an 18-member self-conducted string orchestra and flagship ensemble of the Sphinx Organization. With “immeasurable power, unwavering command, and soulful beauty” (The Washington Post) these masterful players make their Baltimore debut with a program devoted to peace and the resilience of the human spirit. Acclaimed young cellist Sterling Elliott joins as soloist for American composer’s William Grant Still’s Suite, inspired by Harlem Renaissance sculptures.

Sphinx Virtuosi (Baltimore Debut) Sterling Elliott, cello

Aperio, Music of the Americas, kicks off it’s 20th concert season with Southern Revival, a captivating program of chamber and orchestral music on Friday, October 17, 2025 at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston (MATCH). Featuring musicians from Aperio’s core ensemble conducted by Marlon Chen, this evening of poignant American music explores the power of nostalgia and collective memory, highlighting an array of composers and historical perspectives.

Anchored by Samuel Barber’s evocative and powerful work for soprano and orchestra Knoxville: Summer of 1915, the program navigates a variety of perspectives on childhood nostalgia and collective tragedy. Showcasing an evocative text drawn from James Agee’s prose masterpiece A Death In The Family, Barber’s music evokes a nostalgic, dreamlike memory of a peaceful summer evening from a child's perspective, casting an idyllic, peaceful scene in the foreboding shadow of personal tragedy. 

In contrast, Shawn Okpebholo's Two Black Churches gives voice to the painful historical and ongoing racial violence against Black communities. While Barber's work is a personal, gentle reflection, Okpebholo's is a powerful lament and a somber meditation on collective trauma.

The program also highlights significant works by Black composers, including Florence Price’s beautiful Andante Moderato from her String Quartet No. 1, Jessie Montgomery’s dynamic Strum for string quartet and introspective cello and piano duet titled Peace, Margaret Bonds' powerful piano work Troubled Water, and William Grant Still's elegant Serenade. The performance concludes with Richard Farina’s folk-inspired Birmingham Sunday.

Southern Revival

Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston

Opening night belongs to the renowned Sphinx Virtuosi, which returns to PCMS for a fifth consecutive season, this time with the gifted young cellist Sterling Elliott as the featured soloist. Comprising 18 of the nation’s top Black and Latinx classical soloists, the “vibrant” and “rhapsodic” Virtuosi (New York Times) bring to PCMS a program titled Visions of Peace which offers a unique convergence of musical voices that usher us into a realm where music becomes an emissary of peace and unity. Sphinx writes: “We hope to lift every voice and remember our complex history while looking toward our shared journey as we face a brighter tomorrow. We explore peace while remembering the conflict of past and present and recognizing the repeated history and the resilience of the human spirit.”

Sphinx Virtuosi Sterling Elliott, cello

A string quartet of American Symphony Orchestra musicians performs works by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, William Grant Still, and Antonín Dvořák, each reflecting a unique perspective on the American musical experience. Perkinson’s String Quartet No. 1 blends classical form with elements of jazz—a truly American genre—reflecting the vibrancy and depth of Black American music. Still’s Lyric Quartette draws on folk idioms and lyrical expression to evoke scenes of American life, rooted in his vision of a distinctly American classical voice.

String Quartet at Minor Memorial Library

Minor Memorial Library

A stunning display of virtuosity and interplay performed by Aviva Hakanoglu, principal second violin, and Nicholas Jeffery, principal viola.

Composer

William Grant Still

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 16, 2027

Bernstein Chichester Psalms + Still Symphony No. 1 · Wilmington Symphony Orchestra

Feb 11, 2027

Rhapsody in Blue · Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Feb 13, 2027

Masterworks: American Roots · Western Piedmont Symphony

Mar 20, 2027

Look Up · Fox Cities Performing Arts Center

Mar 24, 2027

Meraki Duo · Leeds Conservatoire

Past events

Oct 26, 2026

Valerie Coleman & Friends · Chamber Music Pittsburgh

Oct 26, 2026

Valerie Coleman & Friends · Chamber Music Pittsburgh

About

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