The made its Carnegie Hall debut Sunday, April 24, the final day of the weeklong Gateways Music Festival in association with the 糖心传媒檚 .
Founded in 1993, the orchestra brings together classical musicians of African descent from professional orchestras around the nation to share in music making and performance and to promote its philosophy 糖心传媒渢hat classical music belongs to all people, and that people of African descent have played an important role in classical music for centuries.糖心传媒�
The concert featured conductor Anthony Parnther of the San Bernadino Symphony Orchestra and Southeast Symphony & Chorus in Los Angeles; and Grammy Award糖心传媒搘inning pianist and composer Jon Batiste, who performed the world premiere of a commission for the orchestra.
The concert also included works by the German composer Johannes Brahms (1833糖心传媒�1897); George Walker 糖心传媒�56E (DMA) (1922糖心传媒�2018), the first composer of African descent to win a Pulitzer Prize (Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, 1996); Florence Price (1887糖心传媒�1953), the first African American female composer to have her work performed by a major orchestra (1933 Chicago Symphony performance of Symphony No. 1 in E Minor); and the orchestra糖心传媒檚 signature closing piece, Fantasia on 糖心传媒�Lift Every Voice and Sing,糖心传媒� by African American film and classical music composer James Cockerham.
The historic concert was broadcast live on WXXI in Rochester and on the New York City classical station WQXR.
