University Chamber Orchestra Concert

The University Chamber Orchestra presents its final concert of the academic year featuring works by William Grant Still (1895-1978) and Florence Price (1887-1953). William Grant Still's "Serenade" is characterized by a neo-Romantic aesthetic and demonstrates Still's interest in American folk idioms, beautifully woven into the lush harmonic landscape of this composition. Still composed over 150 works, including five symphonies and eight operas. He was the first Black composer to have a symphony played by a major symphony orchestra, the first to have an opera played by a major opera company, the first to have an opera broadcast on television, and he was the first Black person to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States. Florence Price was a composer, pianist, organist and piano teacher. Born in Arkansas, Price came to Boston to study music at the New England Conservatory. Among her nearly 300 works, her orchestral and vocal (including choral) repertoire seem to have been her main focus. Her "Symphony, No. 1" was premiered by the Chicago Symphony, making her the first Black woman to have an orchestral work played by a major orchestra. This concert will feature "Symphony, No. 4 in D minor", composed in 1945. This work was never performed during Price's lifetime and was presumed lost until it was discovered in stash of documents in her summer home in 2009. The symphony was finally premiered in 2018 and has rapidly gained a place as part of the American symphonic literature. The University Chamber Orchestra is led by professor Mary-Jo Grenfell. Admission to this concert is free, although goodwill donations at the door in support of scholarships for music majors is welcome. For access and accommodation information, visit https://www.salemstate.edu/access or email access@salemstate.edu.