CONCERTO NO. 2: ANTHEM To Be Performed At Carnegie Hall
The concert by Davóne Tines features music by Caroline Shaw and Tyshawn. Sorey, arrangements by Michael Schachter and Tines, and poetry by Mahogany L. Browne.
Grammy-nominated creator, curator, and performer Davóne Tines brings the New York premiere of his Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM, to Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with the Columbus Symphony conducted by Music Director Rossen Milanov on Wednesday, October 28 at 8:00 pm.
A work for voice and orchestra, ANTHEM examines nationhood, identity, and the often competing ideas of what America is and might become. The Carnegie Hall concert is part of the Columbus Symphony’s 75th Anniversary celebrations and follows performances of ANTHEM at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus on October 23 and 24.
Following the traditional concerto form, Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM opens with an arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” including its lesser-known verses, by composer Michael Schachter. The work then progresses into text by Lincoln Center’s first Poet in Residence, Mahogany L. Browne, followed by “Americana? v. Oh Freedom,” co-composed by Tines’ frequent collaborators, Pulitzer Prize winners Caroline Shaw and Tyshawn Sorey. The concerto closes with the Black National Anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” in an arrangement by Schachter and Tines. The work asks “what should we, as a nation, be aspiring to?...what other songs might better articulate and speak to a need deeper than the notion of life for one by way of conquering another?”
ANTHEM builds on Tines’ expanding body of programmatic works, including Concerto No. 1: SERMON, which pairs poetry by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Jessica Care Moore with arias by John Adams and Anthony Davis; and Recital No. 1: MASS, a journey through the structure of the traditional Mass that brings together works by Bach, Julius Eastman, Margaret Bonds, Caroline Shaw, and Tyshawn Sorey while questioning ideas of faith, identity, and belonging. His other works include VIGIL, which began as a music film dedicated to the memory of Breonna Taylor, with music created by Tines and Igee Dieudonné and performed by Tines and pianist Conor Hanick, before being arranged for orchestra by Matthew Aucoin; and ROBESON, co-created with director Zack Winokur, which reimagines the music and legacy of Paul Robeson while looking beyond the icon to the man behind it.
The program will also include the world premiere of The Mysteries, a newly commissioned orchestra work by acclaimed American composer Gregory Spears, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64. The performance at Carnegie Hall on October 28th marks the orchestra’s first performance at the venue since 2001, which was the Columbus Symphony’s 50th Anniversary.
Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM received its world premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Joseph Young at the Hollywood Bowl in August 2022. The work has since been presented by leading ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Barbican Centre and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. This season, Tines will also make his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin performing ANTHEM on December 13.
The performance will take place on Wednesday, October 28 at 8:00 pm at Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.
