Music of the Americas

In yet another unique and adventurous program, the Philharmonic performs works by composers from five different countries of the American continent. Mexico’s José Pablo Moncayo, one of his country’s most revered composers, is represented by his festive Sinfonietta. Canadian composer Jean Coulthard’s Prayer for Elizabeth, written to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, is a heartfelt meditation in the manner of Barber’s Adagio for Strings. From Brazil, we sample the evocative music of Camargo Guarnieri, as one of the Philharmonic’s dearest friends, the dynamic pianist Sophie Lippert, performs his Piano Concerto No. 1. Following intermission, we turn to the hauntingly beautiful Mediodía en en Llano (Afternoon on the Plain) by Venezuela’s Antonio Estévez. The concert ends on U. S. soil with the Concerto for Orchestra by Morton Gould, a work that deftly combines classical, popular, and jazz elements (including a rip-roaring boogie-woogie finale!).

MONCAYO | Sinfonietta

COULTHARD | A Prayer for Elizabeth

GUARNIERI | Concerto No. 1 for Piano & Orchestra

Soloist | Sophie Lippert, Piano

ESTÉVEZ | Mediodía en el Llano

GOULD | Concerto for Orchestra

2pm

Benaroya Hall

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"Completely Novel and Ingenious": Brahms' Fourth

The critic Eduard Hanslick was ecstatic in his praise of Brahms’ fourth and final symphony, lauding its “craftsmanship, strength, unbending consistency, and earnestness…” This simultaneously lyrical and robust symphony caps the Philharmonic’s season in a blaze of romantic vigor. Noted Seattle-based actress Sydney Maltese joins the orchestra for the U.S. premiere of New Zealand composer Jenny McLeod’s colorful setting of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Emperor and the Nightingale, preceded by a performance of Percy Grainger’s rumbustious take on the English folk song Green Bushes.

2 pm

Benaroya Hall

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