Made in the Americas

Kellen Gray conducts a program of music from the Americas, leading with Aaron Copland’s invigoratingly open-air An Outdoor Overture. Estancia, a ballet in four dances by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, illustrates a day in the life of rough-and-ready gauchos, or cowboys, in a rural South American ranch in the expansive pampas (plains). We then move back to the sounds of the city; the US’s signature style, jazz; and African American folk music history with William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”.

Copland An Outdoor Overture
Ginastera Estancia
     1. Los trabajadores agrícolas (The Land Workers)
     2. Danza del trigo (Wheat Dance)
     3. Los peones de hacienda (The Cattlemen)
     4. Danza final (Malambo—Final Dance)
TBA Keller Concerto Competition Work
Still Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American”
     I. Longing: Moderato assai
     II. Sorrow: Adagio
     III. Humor: Animato
     IV. Aspiration: lento; con risoluzione