Florence Price’s First Symphony listing on Broadway Baby

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nzet-Sguin join brilliant violinist Lisa Batiashvili for a concert of dazzling colours and intoxicating rhythms.

Among Americas most compelling musical ensembles, the Philadelphia Orchestra continues its four-concert residency under Music Director Yannick Nzet-Sguin at the 2022 International Festival with a concert of brilliant colours and intoxicating rhythms, showcasing the Orchestras remarkable breadth of music making.

At its premiere in 1932, Florence Prices First Symphony was the first piece by a Black woman composer to be performed by a major US orchestra. Its been unfairly overlooked since then, but Nzet-Sguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra have been among its ardent champions in recent years, bringing its blazing melodies, jazzy wit and beguiling mix of Dvok-like earthiness and African rhythms back to vivid life.

Brilliant Georgian-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili is the soloist in the seductively perfumed lyricism of Szymanowskis sumptuous First Violin Concerto, a deeply personal work of unbridled sensuality.

They open the concert amid the captivating folk music and breath-taking geography of South America, where Philadelphia Orchestra composer in residence Gabriela Lena Frank conjures Latin panpipes and percussion from the orchestra in her vibrant An Andean Walkabout.

Supported by

Dunard Fund

With additional support from

Qubec Government Office in London

Yannick Nzet-Sguin Conductor

Lisa Batiashvili Violin

Gabriela Lena Frank An Andean Walkabout

Szymanowski Violin Concerto No 1

Florence Price Symphony No 1

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