Musical Portraits

Miriam Burns, conductor

Elizabeth Kluegel, soprano

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson - Sinfonietta No. 1 (III. Rondo: Allegro furioso)

Barber - Knoxville: Summer of 1915  

Mendelssohn - ‘Italian’ Symphony    

Three musical portraits comprise our final program. First, a glimpse of an outstanding American composer and person of color, New Yorker Coleridge Taylor Perkinson. His Rondo from Sinfonietta No. 1 for Strings is a tour de force of rhythmic drive and excitement. As exposure and familiarity grow with Perkinson’s work, his compositions will surely join the canon of the major repertoire for string orchestra.

Transport to a lazy summer day, lying in the grass in Knoxville, TN in the year 1915, reflecting on a thoughtful passage from the novel A Death in the Family by James Agee. The nostalgic text, written from a 6-year old boy’s point of view of the sounds he hears around him, is autobiographical. The work is for soprano and orchestra, by American composer Samuel Barber.

Finally, a joyous and effervescent taste of the Italian countryside that Mendelssohn was inspired to compose following a trip to Italy.

Tickets may also be purchased with check. Please Include title of concert in memo line. Mail to:

Paragon Philharmonia

c/o Stephanie Flack

3437 Austin Ct.

Alexandria, VA 22310