Dragon Conducts Brahms' 4th and #elijah with Yumi Hwang-Williams

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Program

COLERIDGE-TAYLOR  The Bamboula – Rhapsodic Dances No. 1, Op. 75
JOHN WINEGLASS  #elijah
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS  The Lark Ascending
BRAHMS  Symphony No. 4, in E minor, Op. 98

Featured Artists

Christopher Dragon, conductor
Yumi Hwang-Williams, violin

Description

Journey through music shaped by loss and reflection. With Resident Conductor Christopher Dragon and the orchestra as guides, experience a quartet of works that speak across generations with uncommon directness about the human responses to suffering — and the search for meaning beyond it. The opening statement comes in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s The Bamboula. Nicknamed for a drum and dance brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans, the piece draws on rhythms and traditions forged under unimaginable hardship. That sense of tragedy speaks directly to the present in John Wineglass’ #elijah, featuring Concertmaster Yumi Hwang-Williams. Written in response to the killing of Elijah McClain, the work places the solo violin at the center of a raw, searching lament — music that bears witness, confronts injustice, and refuses to look away.

A sense of release follows in Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, where Hwang-Williams' violin floats above a hushed orchestra, evoking open skies and quiet stillness. The piece offers a moment of suspended time that gently lifts the listener beyond sorrow. Brahms’ Fourth Symphony faces mortality head-on in his final and most uncompromising symphonic statement. A favorite among musicians, it emerges from darkness into something enduring — a fitting arrival point for a program that moves, unflinchingly, from tragedy to transcendence.

Prelude & Talkback: Join us before and after select concerts to dive deeper into the music or take a peak behind the curtain. Check back for exact details about this concert.