Yale Concert Band to feature Afro-American Symphony, New England Triptych, more

Fri Apr 12 , 7:30 – 9:30 pm

Hosted by Yale University Bands
Details Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Program:
Afro-American Symphony” by William Grant Still is the first full orchestral symphony composed by an African American and premiered for a US audience by a leading orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. This 4‑movement wind band transcription retains the blues progressions, rhythms, and folk elements that reflect Still’s 1930s musical style.

New England Triptych” (William Schuman) is based on the choral music of William Billings, an early-American New England composer. Written in three sections, Be Glad Then, America, is noble and majestic; When Jesus Wept is a sensitive framing of the sacred verse; and Chester is the American Revolutionary hymn and marching song that served as the de facto colonial national anthem. David Mills (Director of Bands [emeritus], University of Connecticut), guest conductor.

In Between” (Aaron Israel Levin) takes its inspiration from movies about making movies (like Federico Fellini’s 8½ or David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive), where the lives of fictitious filmmakers off-set” often become intermingled with the film they’re attempting to make. The title refers to what happens in between takes,” and the inevitable merging of off- and on-set. (Premiere of wind band version).

• Ron Nelson’s Medieval Suite” is an homage to three great master choral composers of the Middle Ages: Leonin (middle 12th century), Perotin (c. 1155 – 1200), and Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377).
Admission Free/no tickets required
Location Woolsey Hall
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