This concert is an inspirational program highlighting the music of the United States and how we celebrate our spirituality and ourselves. Simon’s Four Black American Dances focuses on the centrality of dance as an expression of social connection, ritual, celebration, and worship in a Black Pentecostal church. Part of Verdi’s Te Deum, an ancient Latin hymn of praise to God, is sung regularly at Roman Catholic masses and special celebratory occasions. The concert peaks with Ives’ Symphony No. 2, which honors symphonic traditions while showcasing United States hymns in an unorthodox and witty musical language, blurring the boundaries of European classical structures.

Program Notes