ALBANY SYMPHONY
David Alan Miller, Music Director
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 7:30 P.M.
SPIRITUALS RE-IMAGINED [program notes]
| GEORGE TSONTAKIS | Let the River Be Unbroken |
The Spirituals Project |
|
| JOHN HARBISON | “Ain’t goin’ to study war no mo’” |
| DONAL FOX | “Hear de’ Lams A’cryin’” |
| BUN CHING LAM | “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” |
| TANIA LEON | “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” |
| DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN | “Harvest” |
| KEVIN BEAVERS | “Deep River” |
| RICHARD ADAMS | “Stan’ Still, Jordan” |
| STEPHEN DANKER | “Wade in de’ Water” Nathan De’Shon Myers, baritone |
AARON COPLAND |
Appalachian Spring (complete ballet,1945) |
Listen to the concert:
About the Albany Symphony Orchestra
The Albany Symphony Orchestra, one of the Capital Region’s most revered cultural institutions, has won numerous national awards for its adventurous concert programming, recording projects, composer residencies, and innovative educational efforts with schools throughout the area. Its dedication to American music is in keeping with the area’s rich history. Founded during the Depression by the Italian-born organist and conductor John Carabella, a favorite pupil of Pietro Mascagni, the orchestra continues to serve a broad and diverse community. The only professional symphony orchestra based in the Capital Region, it reaches more than 150,000 people every year, across an extended geographical area. For more information, visit albanysymphony.com.
About Music Director David Alan Miller
David Alan Miller, who has been Music Director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra since 1992, has established a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation.
Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, he has worked with most of America’s major orchestras, developing especially close relationships with the Minnesota Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted the orchestras of Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, as well as the New World Symphony and the New York City Ballet. Mr. Miller is also founder and Artistic Director of New Paths in Music, a festival in New York City that presents the works of significant non-American composers who are not yet well known in the United States. Abroad, he has appeared with major orchestras in Berlin, Barcelona, Prague, Belgrade, Dresden, Hanover, Halle, Mainz, Turin, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Adelaide, Singapore and other venues.
Mr. Miller has proven himself a creative and compelling orchestra builder. Through exploration of unusual repertoire, educational programming, community outreach and recording initiatives, he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony Orchestra’s reputation as the nation’s leading champion of American symphonic music and one of its most innovative orchestras. Honors include Columbia University’s 2003 Ditson Conductor’s Award, the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to American music, the 2001 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming and, in 1999, ASCAP’s first-ever Leonard Bernstein Award for Outstanding Educational Programming. Mr. Miller recently won this award for a second time.
Highly regarded as a champion and interpreter of American music, new and old, Mr. Miller has an extensive discography in the field. He and the Albany Symphony Orchestra have recorded music by John Harbison, Roy Harris, Morton Gould, Don Gillis, George Lloyd, Peter Mennin, and Vincent Persichetti, all on the Albany Records label; a disc of major works by George Tsontakis for Koch, as well as Michael Torke’s opera Strawberry Fields for Ecstatic Records. Among Mr. Miller’s other recordings are works of Todd Levin with the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon; music by Michael Daugherty, Kamran Ince and Michael Torke for London/Decca, and a Mel Powell disc, including the Pulitzer-Prize winning Duplicates: Concerto for Two Pianos, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Harmonia Mundi.
A native of Los Angeles, David Alan Miller holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School. He was Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony from 1982 to 1988, and spent five years as Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic before joining the Albany Symphony Orchestra.
About Albany, New York
Albany sits at the heart of the Capital Region, which also encompasses Troy, Schenectady and the area surrounding Saratoga Springs. The site of the important Albany Congress in 1754, active in the French and Indian Wars and long a vital trading center, Albany occupies a significant place in American history. Today the capital city of New York State maintains its historic and legislative roots while cultivating a vibrant metropolitan atmosphere. A renowned annual tulip festival honors the region’s Dutch settlers; a thriving arts community and a variety of commercial enterprises and universities offer countless opportunities for personal and professional growth, all amid spectacular scenery.
