May 21, 2011 - Guest Conductor HECTOR SALAZAR
8:00 PM
“All American”

Hector Salazar
       
  William Grant Still:   The American Scene: A Mountain a Memorial, and a song
       
  Ferde Grofe:   Grand Canyon Suite
       
  Aaron Copland:   Old American Songs, Set 1
 
(vocalist TBA)
       
  Howard Hanson:   Symphony No. 2 “Romantic”
 


Capping off our season is an all American tribute. The American Scene, No 5,
written by William Grant Still, considered to be the Dean of African American composers, will open the evening’s program. Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite and Hanson’s Symphony No. 2 “Romantic” will be the showcase pieces of this portrait of America. Grofe’s Suite with the many elements connected with the Grand Canyon, combined with its marvelous orchestration, is considered to be the ideal of the most colorful kind of program music. Hanson’s “Romantic” Symphony with its underlying recurrent theme across all the movements, is as moving and powerful today as it was in the early 1900’s. Copland’s Old American Songs will include familiar melodies that are, no doubt, vivid in your memories. This concert is designed to make you proud to be an American.