2024 American Music Festival
Water Music NY More Voices
June 7 through 9, 2024
Composer workshops and rehearsal readings, post-concert musical mingling at Evelyn’s Cafe, Dogs of Desire, the culminating Festival concert, recitals and more! All yours to explore and discover throughout Troy with your Festival Pass.
Native American composer Brent Michael Davids has composed a charming quartet about James Fenimore Cooper. Davids, who embraces indigenous themes and subjects in his music, considers Cooper’s ignorance of native culture in “The Last of the Mohicans” in this delightful work for string quartet, featuring members of your Albany Symphony. This event is featured as part of the Sanctuary for Independent Media’s Freedom Festival in collaboration with the American Music Festival.
Tantalus – a new music chamber choir – keeps the music going with a program of American music, blurring the lines between classical and pop. Choral works by Ted Hearne, Caroline Shaw, and Ayanna Woods are juxtaposed with songs from the pop and indie rock worlds.
David Alan Miller, conductor
Clarice Assad, piano
Brandon Patrick George, flute
TANTALUS CHAMBER CHOIR
ALBANY HIGH SCHOOL CHAMBER CHOIR
Joan Tower: 1920/2019
Clarice Assad: Flow, Suite for Piano & Orchestra (world premiere)
Michael Gilbertson: Flute Concerto (world premiere)
Christopher Theofanidis: On the Bridge of the Eternal
Enjoy an afternoon recital of Broadway and American classics in Bush Memorial Hall with Broadway star Lauren Blackman and special guest Nicholas Ward.
From the composer’s imagination to the concert hall, watch as emerging composers have their newest works performed for the first time. Music Director David Alan Miller, composer Christopher Theofanidis, and musicians of the Albany Symphony guide each new voice through the challenges of composing in the 21st Century. In between the readings, sample new craft beverages from SingleCut.
Following the Dogs of Desire performance, enjoy the sultry Brazilian rhythms of father-daughter duo Sérgio and Clarice Assad.
David Alan Miller, conductor
Britt Hewitt, soprano
Devony Smith, mezzo-soprano
Dai Wei: All on a Summer’s Day (world premiere)
Francisco del Pino: Memorial (world premiere)
Nicky Sohn: Crossway (world premiere)
Juhi Bansal: Refuge (world premiere)
JURAKHAN: Underneath the Structure (world premiere)
Jack Frerer: Arrangements of hits by NY-born songwriters, including Just the Two of Us, If I Had a Hammer, and more
Festival Sponsors
The Albany Symphony is commemorating the Bicentennial of the Erie Canal through music and stories, raising more voices to tell untold stories about the past, present, and future of the Erie Canal. Over the next three years, composers, artists, and communities will create compelling music and art for all to share along New York State Canal waterways. www.canals.ny.gov/onthecanals/