The New Haven Symphony Orchestra “will celebrate immigrants’ influence on classical music” on May 10, writes Joe Amarante in Sunday’s (5/6) New Haven Register (CT). “NHSO music director William Boughton will [conduct] masterworks written by immigrants and refugees…. The beefy program: Béla Bartók’s brassy and expansive ‘Concerto for Orchestra’; Sergei Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem ‘Isle of the Dead’—inspired by a black-and-white reproduction of Arnold Bocklin’s painting of the same name; Tian Zhou’s ‘First Sight,’ and Erich Korngold’s … Violin Concerto, featuring … Elena Urioste…. ‘New Haven’s citizens have always warmly welcomed immigrants,’ [says Boughton]. ‘I mused on the wide range of composers who had emigrated to the U.S. to flee persecution and seek new opportunities. [Boughton] settled on Russian pianist/composer Rachmaninoff, who fled the Russian revolution in 1918, he noted, and Bartók and Korngold, both of whom fled Nazism in the 1930s. ‘To reflect our times, I searched for a contemporary immigrant composer and was attracted to Tian Zhou’s music and his story,’ [says] Boughton.” Boughton steps down as the NHSO’s music director at the end of the 2018-19 season. Three finalists to succeed him have conducted the orchestra this season: David Amado, Rebecca Miller, and Alasdair Neale.
Posted May 7, 2018
