The Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Carolyn Kuan in performance.
“The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s just-announced 2022-2023 Masterworks Series is anchored by heavy hitters such as Gershwin, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and … Scott Joplin,” writes Christopher Arnott in Wednesday’s (6/15) Hartford Courant (CT). “But the composers who aren’t household names are just as intriguing, including Felix Mendelssohn’s equally talented older sister Fanny … mid-20th century Black female composer Florence Price, [and] 18th century Creole composer Joseph Bologne.… ‘Throughout the pandemic, we were all yearning for a sense of freedom. This season is an exploration of what it means to be… free … and how that freedom inspires us,’ [Music Director Carolyn] Kuan said…. The hip-hop dance troupe BRKFST from Minnesota will perform its original choreography to Beethoven’s ‘Grosse Fuge Op. 133′ and also dance to ‘Dancers, Dreamers, and Presidents’ by the contemporary composer DBR (aka Daniel Bernard Roumain)…. [The orchestra will perform] a suite drawn from Iain Bell’s [2019] opera ‘Stonewall,’ written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall gay liberation protests…. The symphony will also premiere a work by the yet-to-be-named first artist-in-residence to be supported by the Joyce C. Willis Fund, dedicated to giving opportunities to Black artists at major Hartford arts institutions.”
