By NATASHA ANDERSON
The Asheville Symphony presents Masterworks 6: New World, a concert of distinctly American orchestral music, featuring Antonín Dvorák’s New World Symphony alongside Alexandra du Bois’ Fanfare on We Shall Overcome and cellist Amit Peled performing Victor Herbert’s inspirational Cello Concerto No. 2. Led by maestro Darko Butorac, the concert takes place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
“Our April concert combines a fascinating mix of works that are inspired by the American experience,” says Butorac. “If Alexandra du Bois’ work introduces a concept of the American orchestral sound in the 21st century, the other two works were seminal in establishing an American school in the late 19th century.”
Amit Peled
The program opens with Fanfare on We Shall Overcome. Composed in 2008 and premiered in January 2009, the piece was inspired by the hymn We Shall Overcome and the inauguration of the first African American President of the United States of America.
Next, cellist Amit Peled joins the ASO for Herbert’s Cello Concerto No. 2. The piece inspired Herbert’s friend and colleague Dvorák to write his own cello concerto, which premiered two years later.
“It is important to me as a new American citizen to play a piece by a person who came from Scotland to America, became American and championed the music of this country,” says Peled. “I feel very connected to it.”
Internationally renowned cellist Peled is acclaimed as one of the most exciting and virtuosic instrumentalists of our time. Having performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York, Peled has released more than a dozen recordings on the Naxos, Centaur, Delos and CTM Classics labels. Musical America named Peled one of the Top 30 Influencers of 2015.
“Amit is a wonderful musician and a great friend to the Asheville Symphony,” says Butorac. “He was very kind to join us during our virtual season and I am delighted to work with him on this important, yet infrequently performed, piece.”
The program concludes with Dvorák’s New World Symphony, a masterwork inspired by the composer’s desire to learn about Native American and African American music. As the first director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, Dvorák was adamant that the conservatory should admit African Americans. Student Henry Burleigh is credited with exposing Dvorák to African American spirituals and went on to become an important composer in his own right. While the symphony never explicitly quotes African American or Native American musical themes in their entirety, Dvorák incorporates them into his own themes, creating moments that echo with longing and pulse with playful rhythms.
Tickets for Masterworks 6 are $25–$75, depending on seating section (reduced youth pricing is available). Tickets can be purchased online at AshevilleSymphony.org, by phone at 828.254.7046, in person at the Asheville Symphony office at 27 College Place, Suite 100, or at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville Box Office in downtown Asheville.
