"An American in Paris," the opening concert of the 24-25 season, will be held Saturday, September 14, 2024, 7:30 p.m. Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts, Hope College, Johannes Müller Stosch, Music Director. Organ virtuoso Christopher Houlihan will make his HSO debut performing Samuel Barber's magnificent Toccata Festiva for Organ and Orchestra.  

MARX          Idylle
BARBER     Toccata Festiva for Organ & Orchestra
PRICE         Dances in the Canebrakes
GERSHWIN      An American in Paris

Inspired by Debussy’s popular pastoral tone poem Afternoon of a Faun and composed in the 1920s as part of Joseph Marx’s impressionistic nature trilogy, this orchestral gem is filled with stunning clarinet passages and a myriad of colors evoking the atmospheric wonder of the late-summer landscapes of Austria. A rising star of the organ community joins the orchestra for an exuberant work full of virtuosic passages, blaring trumpets, rollicking reeds, and contrapuntal dances. The first African American woman to have a major orchestra (Chicago Symphony, 1920s) perform her composition, Florence Price’s final work is a soulful set of ragtime and ballroom dances named after the tall cane plant clusters found in the deep South, which were usually removed by plantation slaves to clear land for cotton planting. Rhythmically effervescent, spontaneous, and filled with infectious tunes, An American in Paris depicts the City of Light through a visitor’s eyes and ears, savoring the Parisian atmosphere, sights, and sounds through a mix of jazz and classical.

Concert Sponsor: In memory of Floyd Farmer.