Thomas Wilkins conducts Bonds, Davis, and Dawson with Anthony McGill, clarinet

In the second program of a series of concerts exploring complex social issues, conductor Thomas Wilkins leads clarinetist Anthony McGill in Anthony Davis’ concerto You Have the Right to Remain Silent, a musical response to a tense encounter with law enforcement in a case of mistaken identity. Margaret Bonds’ spiritual-based Montgomery Variations is a 1963 tribute to Montgomery, Alabama, and to Martin Luther King. William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony was a huge success upon its premiere at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1934 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski. The symphony’s themes are taken from the melodies of spirituals.

Festival: Voices of Loss, Reckoning, and Hope is supported by the generosity of the Elinor V. Crawford Living Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation.

Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Anthony McGill, clarinet

BONDS Selection from Montgomery Variations (I. Decision; II. Prayer Meeting; III. March)

Anthony DAVIS You Have the Right to Remain Silent, for clarinet and orchestra

---- Intermission----

DAWSON Negro Folk Symphony