Join us this summer for a selection of folksy fantasies! Copland's Appalachian flavors shine in a performance of his Old American Folk Songs by Metropolitan Opera star Stephen Gaertner. Rounding out the concert is Gershwin's ultimate American folk opera… Porgy and Bess Fantasy. The concert takes place Friday, August 18th at The Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge.
“The concert will present a 'touch of the folksy'," said Maestro David Wroe, music director and conductor of Westfield’s professional orchestra. “The program highlights the deep connection between the English and American musical cultures, not only because of the shared language, but also because of their love of common folk melodies sprinkled with both sweet melancholy and dancing rhythms.”
The concert features Delius' Brigg Fair a hauntingly beautiful take on the old English Lincolnshire folk melody of the same name and the Appalachian flavors of Copland’s Old American Songs. To close is Gershwin's iconic Porgy and Bess Fantasy.
American baritone Stephen Gaertner, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2007, will join NJFO to perform a number of Copland’s most cherished songs that capture both the grandeur and the intimate detail of American life and legend including “The Boatmen’s Dance,” “Long Time Ago,” “Simple Gifts” and “I Bought Me a Cat,” and more. These songs constitute some of the most popular and beloved classical music of our time – either in the concert hall or in popular culture.
With change of pace, the orchestra will present Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Fantasy showcasing a wealth of moving melodies, memorable tunes, not to mention powerful and dramatic instrumental interludes, from, arguably, America’s greatest folk opera. Audiences will thrill to the orchestral sounds of “Summertime,” ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So,” I Got Plenty O’Nuttin,” “ My Man’s Gone Now,” and many more, from one of the most celebrated American works of the 20th century.
