The Fort Collins Symphony, under the direction of Maestro Wes Kenney, presents America Awakens, a virtual on-demand streaming concert from Friday, April 30 through Sunday, May 2, 2021.
Spring is in the air, the light of awareness is dawning, change is within reach, growth is on the horizon, and pride lends a bounce to one’s step. Please join Maestro Kenney and the Fort Collins Symphony for an evening of American composers and themes. This virtual concert features two of Aaron Copland’s popular compositions– the enduring American anthem, Appalachian Spring, and a coming-of-age story, The Tender Land Suite–and Adolphus Hailstork’s blues-inspired composition Church Street Serenade.
Aaron Copland composed his Pulitzer Prize winning Appalachia Spring toward the end of World War II. The music tells the story of a young frontier couple on their wedding day, and captures their optimism for a future filled with prosperity.
Copland’s Tender Land Suite is a musical exploration of a Midwestern farm girl’s decision to make her way in the world. Lending their voices to the performance are soprano Amy Maples, a Resident Artist at Denver School of the Arts, and tenor Dr. John Carlo Pierce, Associate Professor of Voice at Colorado State University.
Adolphus Hailstork is a prolific composer and Professor of Music at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. His Church Street Serenade was performed for the 2005 reopening of Norfolk’s Crispus Attucks Theater which is located on Church Street, an area once described as the Harlem of the South. Hailstork brilliantly captures elements of blues, jazz, and Black gospel in this lively serenade.
The FCS virtual webcast starts at 7:00 p.m. MST on Friday, April 30, 2021 and streams on YouTube. It is available for viewing until 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 2, 2021. Tickets are $25 for the 70-minute virtual concert, and are available through the Lincoln Center box office at LCTix.com or 970.221.6730 (Tuesday – Saturday, noon-6:00 p.m.). One ticket is required per household. Sales for the webcast end at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 2, 2021. Please note: This concert cannot be downloaded or saved.
The FCS America Awakens concert is sponsored by Roberta Mielke and Dr. Peter Springberg, and is performed in memory of Leabelle R. Schwartz. FCS Season sponsors are the City of Fort Collins Fort Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Colorado Creative Industries, Gary Hixon Designs, The Lincoln Center Support League, KRFC 88.9 FM Fort Collins Radio, KUNC 91.5 FM, Palmer Flowers, Dr. Ed Siegel, and Dr. Peter Springberg.