Rivers Musicians Present Joint Concert

 

At the core of the concert is the world premiere of Francine Trester’s “Walkers with the Dawn,” with renowned soloist Robert Honeysucker and Conservatory teacher Lois Shapiro as narrator. This work—for two choirs, baritone, narrator, and orchestra—is set to the poems of Langston Hughes. The composer is a resident of Newton, and she captured the lyricism, soulfulness, and earnest feeling inherent in Langston’s writing to tell a four-part story of the human spirit—descending into the depths of despair wrought by ignorance, and rising through understanding and enlightenment.

 

“The title comes from the last of Langston’s poems and from a place of hope and light,” said David Tierney, conductor of the RSO. “The composition aspires toward a conclusion that is as bright and shining as Hughes’ verse, ever advancing toward the twin stars of equity and freedom. It will be an extraordinary work, poignantly offered at a very challenging time for our national conscience.”

 

In addition, Head of School Ned Parsons will be the narrator for the US Chamber Orchestra’s presentation of Camille Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals,”  reading poems written by Ogden Nash. The concert also includes cellist Andrew Kim playing the first movement of Eduard Lalo’s Cello Concerto, Rivers Middle School student Katherine Liu playing the first movement of Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rivers senior Bathabile Khumalo singing Purcell’s “When I am laid to rest” from Dido and Aneaes and Mozart’s “Voi che sapete” from The Marriage of Figaro.

 

Tickets are available on line at http://www.riversschoolconservatory.org/event/carnival or at the Jordan Hall Box Office.

 

Being walkers with the dawn and morning,

Walkers with the sun and morning,

We are not afraid of night,

Nor days of gloom,

Nor darkness --

Being walkers with the sun and morning.

             ~Langston Hughes