At Boston’s Jordan Hall on November 22, the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra performed a program entitled “Sharing Our Humanity” on the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. Julius P. Williams, the ensemble’s artistic director, conducted the program, which included Yoko Shimomura’s “Dearly Beloved” from the video game Kingdom Hearts; He Zhanhao and Chen Gang’s Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, with soloist Serena Harnack; Sibelius’s Finlandia; Nkeiru Okoye’s Voices Shouting Out; and Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, with narrator Ron Savage, dean of the Berklee School of Music’s Professional Performance Division. In remarks to the audience, Williams noted, “The students in our orchestra are from fourteen different countries, and we conceived tonight’s program to reflect who we are as global citizens: our different cultures and range of experiences.” The Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, based at Boston’s Berklee School of Music, performs standard repertoire as well as original compositions by Berklee faculty and students, contemporary music from around the globe, and music from film and video game scores.
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