Throughout the month of January, the Philadelphia Orchestra performs American masterworks from the G. Schirmer catalog. Music by Samuel Barber, Julius Eastman, and Du Yun has been programmed to mark both the 250th anniversary of US independence and the 125th anniversary of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s founding.
Samuel Barber and Julius Eastman both spent time in Philadelphia, studying at the Curtis Institute of Music. Separated by a generation, they are duly known to foreground transcendent, melancholic beauty in their compositions. It is appropriate to note that both composers were openly gay men, defiantly living their truths in the face of 20th-century prejudices. A tension between liberation and oppression is quite palpable in their work, speaking to a broader American experience past their own personal lives.
From January 9-11, conductor Dalia Stasevska leads performances of Barber’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14 (1939), featuring soloist Augustin Hadelich. Hadelich’s recent New York performances of the concerto were reviewed by The New York Times as “irresistibly comforting...Hadelich brought a contained urgency to his performance, with chiseled phrasing and an unwavering solidity at the core of his voluptuous sound.”
On January 16 and 17, Stasevska brings Eastman’s Symphony No. II - The Faithful Friend: The Lover Friend's Love for the Beloved (1983) to Philadelphia for the very first time. The single-movement symphony is a massive adagio that laments the end of Eastman’s romantic partnership with poet R. Nemo Hill. Stasevska has become one of Eastman’s great contemporary champions, having made the world premiere recording of his sole surviving symphony in 2024.
From January 22-24, Elim Chan leads performances of Du Yun’s Ears of the Book (2024), a Pipa Concerto featuring and written for soloist Wu Man. Co-commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, this concerto was conceived as a series of “polaroids” that create a larger, emotive mosaic. “As in our daily life, these polaroids appear unexpectedly — on the streets, on our kitchen counters, scattered around deep corners of our living space,” writes Du Yun. “We see the moments frozen in time, and our memories relive them, yet again. Our lives are intertwined threads, never broken.”
Watch the Detroit Symphony's world premiere performance, via Live from Orchestra Hall.
Barber, Eastman, and Du Yun each have an inimitable style, yet are united by their clarity of vision and emotive boldness. We look forward to a full mosaic of American music as the year unfolds. If you are curious to further explore music by American composers, visit our web feature Independent Repertoire: America at 250.
For more information, please contact your local Wise Music Promotion Team; Contact Us.
