About
Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero opens the rich treasure chest of American music. Adolphus Hailstork’s An American Port of Call captures the relentless energy of the port of Norfolk, Virginia. Pianist Clayton Stephenson performs Gershwin’s jazz and blues-infused Concerto in F. Charles Ives composed his delightful and quirky Variations on “America” when he was only 17. Audiences at the 1934 premiere of Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony were so moved that they erupted in applause at the end of each movement. Decades later, the extraordinary work has returned to the standard repertoire with accolades.
