Orchestra spotlights Black composers

By Freya Bergren

The Orchestra of New Spain (ONS) will present its final concert of the season on Saturday, June 12 at 7 p.m. in Zion Lutheran Church. 

With much needed attention focused on the rich African American cultural legacy, ONS chose to celebrate the Texas roots of Juneteenth this season with a range of classical music by Black composers. Black composers of early music are rare. France’s Joseph Bologna, Chevalier de St. Georges, is the only one celebrated in history. He is represented in the program with his elegant “String Quartet No 1.” 

“Four Noveletten,” by the 19th Century Londoner Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, was widely supported in the United States and is best known for “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.” “Strum,” the contemporary Cello Quintet by Julliard trained Jessie Montgomery, draws on folk idioms and dance movement, while a more African-Latin sound reverberates in mid-century Grant Still’s “Danzas de Panama.”

“Black composers and orchestral musicians have been overlooked for the past 200 years as orchestral music was developed. BLM [Black Lives Matter] has clearly opened the field to Black creators and performers in so many areas,” comments Grover Wilkins III. “With librarian Robert Boyer, we have searched high and low for interesting works that carry no particular Black musical stamp,” continued Wilkins. “Rather they should evoke the same pleasure that Romantic and early modern period works do for the general public.

“We are pleased to explore neglected Black composers in this our first concert dedicated to Juneteenth and the fight to end racism,” Wilkins added.   

Tickets are $25 or $10 for students at ticketdfw.com or by calling 214-871-5000. 

The Orchestra of New Spain is a 36-member orchestra and chorus created in 1989 in the Dallas Arts District, dedicated to research and performance of Spanish and New World baroque music. Its eight-concert season, In-school Tutoring Program, DISD Summer Strings Camp and national and international touring programs are a unique contribution to the Dallas Metroplex.  

The Orchestra’s mission is to introduce the neglected Spanish repertory from the 17th and 18th centuries and to educate the public on the importance of staging the cultural implications of its Hispanic heritage. Additionally, ONS performs renaissance, baroque, classical and romantic repertories on period instruments from various periods and provenances.