The Orchestra Now Performs Works by Shostakovich and Dawson

The Orchestra Now, an ensemble comprised of musicians from the leading conservatories and the music schools from across the world and based at Bard College, is led by Music Director and Bard President Leon Botstein in this performance of two symphonies written seven years apart. William Levi Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony was composed in 1934, but despite an enthusiastic reception, its popularity faded, due in part to racial prejudice. Shostakovich wrote his "Leningrad" symphony in 1941, and it premiered in 1942 at the height of the German siege of that Russian city as a rallying cry to the Soviet people and later becoming an inspiration to Allied forces. Listen at 8 pm.