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Concert for the City

Translations Community Showcase Programs 3pm Concert Program and Performers

Translations

Program

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12:00pm, Outdoor Stage

Arthur Fiedler Boston Pops Promenade & Seiji Ozawa Multicultural Community Showcase

Taneshia Nash Laird, emcee
Juan Nieves Trio
OrigiNation Dance Troupe
Arnie Williams Steel Drum Band
Veronica Robles Community Dancers

Arthur Fielder’s name is virtually synonymous with the Boston Pops. Fiedler (1894-1979) became Pops Conductor in 1930 and over his nearly half-century in that role transformed it into “America’s Orchestra” through televised performances and recordings. He also started the free concert series on the Charles River Esplanade. Fiedler expanded the Pops’ range astronomically, adding Duke Ellington, Scott Joplin, the Beatles, and the Bee Gees to the Pops’ traditional repertoire of Sousa and Strauss, and brought in household-name guests that included The Carpenters, Julia Child, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Seiji Ozawa (1935-2024) was the longest-tenured conductor in the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s history. Appointed BSO Music Director in 1973, he was the first Asian leader of a major U.S. orchestra at a time when Asian musicians were just beginning to join the ranks of American ensembles. Beloved in Japan as well as in the U.S., Ozawa created lasting relationships between the BSO and Japan through touring and recordings.

1:15pm, Cabot-Cahners Room

John Oliver Choral Community Showcase

Pelin Su Yavuz and Brian Washington, jazz duo 
Community Music Center of Boston
Members of the Boston Pops Gospel Choir

Choral director John Oliver (1939-2018) began working with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1964 and in 1970, at age 30, founded the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which quickly became the BSO’s primary chorus. He prepared the all-volunteer TFC in more than 200 works with orchestra, in the ensemble’s own concerts, and in dozens of recordings with the BSO and Boston Pops, as well as conducting choral groups and other ensembles around the country.

1:30pm, O’Block/Kay Room

Ann Hobson & Prentice Pilot Youth Community Showcase 

Four Strings Academy 
Project STEP
Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras
Dilzafer Singh, tabla
The Spirituals of Boston Arts Academy

Ann Hobson Pilot and Prentice Pilot have been strong advocates in music education for young people of color for decades. Prentice, a jazz and orchestral double bassist, was the first artistic director of Project STEP (String Training Education Program). Ann joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as only the second African American member in 1969 and was appointed Principal Harp in 1980, retiring in 2009.
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3pm Concert Program

Remarks by Chad Smith, Eunice and Julian Cohen President and Chief Executive Officer
Remarks by The Hon. Michelle Wu, Mayor of Boston
Invocation by Parker-Vincent Alva, Boston Youth Poet Laureate
Emcee: Thomas Wilkins, Artistic Partner, Education and Community Engagement, and Germeshausen Youth and Family Concerts Conductor

Boston Children’s Chorus | Kenneth Griffith, music director

Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution (3’)
Tracy CHAPMAN (arr. Nancy O’CONNOR)

We Will Stand (3’)
Kirby SHAW

Sign Me Up (4’)
Brandon A. BOYD

Musicians of the Boston Festival Orchestra

Farayi Malek, vocals
Alyssa Wang, violin
Aron Zelkowicz, cello
Ruoting Li, piano

You Ought to Be Ashamed (2’)
Porter GRAINGER

Strange Fruit (3’)
Billie HOLIDAY (arr. Boston Festival Orchestra)

Caged Bird (4’)
Justin NIELSEN (arr. Boston Festival Orchestra)

Presenting Veronica Robles and Her Mariachi Ensemble

INTERMISSION

Boston Symphony Orchestra | Andris Nelsons conducting

Festive Fanfare and Overture (5’)
Carlos SIMON
(co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Carnegie Hall to celebrate Andris Nelsons’ 10th anniversary season as BSO Music Director. The Boston Symphony Orchestra commission is through the generous support of the Arthur P. Contas Commissioning Fund, and the New Works Fund established by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.)

Symphony No. 6, second movement: Allegro con grazia (8’)
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY

Boston Symphony Orchestra | Thomas Wilkins conducting

Fanfare on “Amazing Grace” (4’)
Adolphus HAILSTORK

Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) (9’)
Missy MAZZOLI

Boston Pops Orchestra | Keith Lockhart conducting

Rhapsody in Blue (18’)
George GERSHWIN
Michelle Wu, piano

America the Beautiful (5’)
Samuel WARD & Katharine Lee BATES (arr. Rob MATHES)
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor
Renese King, vocalist

Concert for the City is generously supported by lead sponsor Li-Qiu Family Foundation with additional support by Tom Kuo, Chair, and Alexandra DeLaite.

3pm Concert Performers