Connections Across Time and Space

The second concert in the Composers of Note series connects the careers of three composers, who come from different time periods and backgrounds, but whose works draw from similar sources of inspiration. Contemporary American composer Christine Delphine Hedden’s Cuimhne —co-commissioned and premiered by OSL through the Music in Color initiative—draws from New England folk music and traditional Irish music. The first African-American woman to have a piece performance by a major American orchestra, Florence Price combined traditional African-American idioms, African dance rhythms, and with the harmonies and forms of mid-century American classical music in her String Quartet No. 2, written in 1935. Written when he was 27 years old, Brahms’ first string sextet sees the developing composer pushing boundaries and exposing the full sonic potential of the two violins, two violas, and two cellos for which the work was written.