October 2023 Concert Program

Program Notes Fanfare and Flourishes: Curnow

James Curnow’s “Fanfare and Flourishes” was composed in 1991 and features a prominent musical theme from Marc Antoine Charpentier’s “Te Deum.” As the title suggests, an exciting fanfare opens the piece. The fanfare gives way to Renaissance-inspired melodies featuring multiple sections of the ensemble in turn. It was originally commissioned for the 1991 European Brass Band Championships in Rotterdam, Holland. Symphony No. 1 in E minor: Price Born in Little Rock, Ark., in 1887, Florence Price gave her first piano recital at age 4, composed her first work at age 11, and entered the New England Conservatory at age 15. Over the course of her lifetime, she composed more than 300 works, many of which were forgotten after her death until the 2009 discovery of a rich trove of unpublished compositions. Her Symphony No. 1 in E minor looks back to Antonín Dvořák’s last symphony in the same key, “From the New World.” Composed while she was recovering from a broken foot, the symphony won first place in the Rodman Wanamaker Competition and premiered June 15, 1933, at the Chicago World’s Fair. It was the first work by an African-American woman to be performed by a major American symphony orchestra. Its performance today is generously sponsored by the Lockhart family. “Jurassic Park”: Williams Famed American movie score composer John Williams has won multiple Academy Awards and is known for his many collaborations with director Steven Spielberg. He defied monster-movie expectations in his score for Spielberg’s 1993 film “Jurassic Park,” writing a soaring, hymn-like melody instantly recognizable 30 years later. The piece has been covered, parodied, and even used as wedding music.