Amadi Azikiwe
The Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Ariel Rudiakov, takes concert-goers on a musical tour of works by Black composers Florence Price, William Grant Still, Adolphus Hailstork, Duke Ellington, and Samuel ColeridgeTaylor; featuring a viola solo by Amadi Azikawe; concluding with spirituals sung by Bedford’s Hill’s Antioch Baptist Church Choir (Music Director – James Farley). https://yonkersphilharmonic.com/
On Sunday afternoon, February 9 at 3pm, the Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra performs an admission-free concert at Saunders Trade and Technical High School at 183 Palmer Road in Yonkers. The concert is open to the general public. Reservations are not required.
Come early: At 2:15 Maestro Rudiakov will give a pre-concert talk on the composers and their
music. The concert features the works – classical to modern, blues to soul – of Black composers some
quite well-known and others, not so well known.
- Symphony no 1 Allegro by classical French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de SaintGeorge. The Chevalier – a biracial free man of color – was the first classical
composer of African descent to attain widespread acclaim in European music. He
composed an array of violin concertos, string quartets, sinfonia concertantes, violin
duets, sonatas, two symphonies and an assortment of stage works, notably opéra
comique. - Incidental Music From Othello by British Composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Of mixedrace descent, in the early 1900s, Coleridge-Taylor was referred to by white musicians
in New York City as the “African Mahler”. - Overture to Treemonisha by American composer and pianist Scott Joplin. Dubbed the
“King of Ragtime, Joplin composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and
two operas. - Dances in the Canebrakes by female American classical composer Florence Price. Born
in 1887, Price was the first African-American woman to be recognized as a
symphonic composer and the first to have a composition played by a major
orchestra. She composed over 300 works: four symphonies, four concertos, as well as
choral works, art songs, chamber music and music for solo instruments. - Duke Ellington! A medley (arranged by Calvin Custer) composed by African American jazz
pianist and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington. - Two Romances for Viola and Orchestra Symphony no 1 by contemporary American composer Adolphus Hailstork. Of African American, Native American and European descent, Hailstork began his musical career in 1963 at Howard University. In 1965, he received Bachelor of Music and Master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and in 1971, his PhD in composition from Michigan State University. Hailstork’s works blend musical ideas from the African, American and European traditions. In October 2022, he was featured in Britain as “Composer of the Week” on BBC Radio 3.
- The Hailstork solo will be performed by New York Violist, Amadi Azikiwe, who has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, including an appearance at the US Supreme Court. Mr. Azikiwe has also been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall and the Kennedy Center. Abroad, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, Nigeria, India, Japan, and Hong Kong.
- The concert will conclude with rousing renditions of spirituals Swing Lo, Sweet Chariot and When the Saints Come Marching In sung by Bedford Hill’s Antioch Baptist Church Choir under the direction of Music Director, James Farley.
