Description:

A highlight of The Philadelphia Orchestra's 2009-10 season is the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by George Walker, a prolific composer with longstanding ties to Philadelphia and its orchestra. Born in 1922 and living in New Jersey, Walker was the first black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music--in 1996, for his Lilacs. The soloist for the Concerto is the composer's son, violinist Gregory Walker, currently concertmaster of the Boulder Philharmonic. The program concludes with The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure, a fanciful assembly of music from Wagner's 15-hour, four-evening Ring operatic cycle.

Listen to Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker discussing his new Violin Concerto

Related Concerts:

• March 16, 2010
  Vänskä Conducts Sibelius
• March 27, 2010
  Mozart and Elgar
• April 11, 2010
  The Rite of Spring
• April 16, 2010
  Ax Plays Beethoven
• May 27, 2010
  Mozart and Rachmaninoff
• May 29, 2010
  Mozart and Rachmaninoff

Concert Enhancements:

Free Pre-Concert Conversation one hour prior to concert (About Pre-Concert Conversations)

Program Notes:

December 12, 2009 Download Adobe Acrobat to view Program Notes.

Series Information:

Part of the 2010 Celebration Collection, and package Mini 3A

Part of the 2010 Weekend Collection, and package Mini 3A