New World Symphony

6:30PM – FREE PRE-CONCERT TALK! Join us in the Performance Hall to learn more about the program. 

Join us for an unforgettable evening of music by three of the world’s most beloved composers—Brahms, Mozart, and Dvořák—under the baton of GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Andrew Litton, Music Director of the New York City Ballet.

Dvořák’s New World Symphony has inspired generations with its sweeping melodies and vibrant rhythms—music so powerful it even traveled to the moon with Apollo 11. Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák spent three years at the helm of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, which was a far cry from his home in the Bohemia region of Europe. The homesick Dvořák found familiarity within the folk music of America, and the “New World” Symphony thus became a melting pot of sounds with unmistakable provincial Czech influence and distinctly American inspiration.

Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, performed by CSO Principal Clarinet Charles Messersmith, is a masterpiece that showcases the clarinet’s warm, lyrical beauty. Messersmith, a member of the CSO since 1998, brings over two decades of experience to this stunning performance, infusing the piece with soul and artistry. Brahms’s divine, moody “Song of Destiny” opens the program.  

MORE ON THE MUSIC & ARTISTS:

• Charles Messersmith has been a member of the CSO since 1998 and has been Principal Clarinet for 20 years. 
• Johannes Brahms was a mentor and friend of Antonín Dvořák. They connected when Brahms, when acting as a judge for a composers’ competition, was impressed by the younger Dvořák’s music. 
• An acknowledged expert on George Gershwin, Andrew Litton has performed and recorded Gershwin widely as both pianist and conductor and serves as Advisor to the University of Michigan Gershwin Archives.  
• Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto was written just months before his death at age 35.  

PROGRAM

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Schicksalslied, Op. 54 (Song of Destiny)                                                                                     

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622                  

INTERMISSION

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 (From the New World)        

ARTISTS

Andrew Litton, Conductor
Charles Messersmith, Clarinet
CSO Chorus (Nicholas Quardokus, Director)
CSU Concert Singers (Will Griswold, Director)