Orchestra Of St. Luke's Presents MUSIC IN COLOR

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) focuses its 2019 Music in Color Free Community Concerts series (March 23, 24, 28, April 4, April 7) and Free School Concerts programs on the music of Gabriela Lena Frank, an American composer of Peruvian, Chinese, and Lithuanian Jewish descent. Now entering its third year, Music in Color is OSL's annual initiative highlighting the works and lives of classical composers of color. The program was created to engage new audiences with classical music through dynamic, multidisciplinary concerts designed to be as entertaining as they are educational.

Commissioned to write a piece for OSL in 2015, California-based composer Gabriela Lena Frank returns to help curate these programs, which include selections of her works, as well as a selection from a string quartet by Chou Wen-chung, one of Frank's inspirations. In addition, for the five Community Concerts, OSL will premiere five new works composed by Fellows of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and co-commissioned by OSL. The featured composers Anjna Swaminathan (March 23, Flushing Town Hall, Queens); Matthew Evan Taylor (March 24, RestorationART, Brooklyn); Marco-Adrián Ramos (March 28, Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, Bronx); Iman Habibi (April 4, Harlem School of the Arts, Manhattan); and Christine Delphine Hedden (April 7, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island) will be present for their programs. Frank herself performs on the piano at the Free School Concerts, March 19-21, 2019, alongside Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Edwin Outwater. A narration written and performed by actor and playwright Kirya Traber will reflect on Frank's biography and musical influences, and highlight Frank's belief in the power of music as a tool for civic engagement. Members of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble perform for the Free Community Concerts. All Music in Color Free Community Concerts are festival partner events as part of Carnegie Hall's 2018-2019 festival, Migrations: The Making of America.

Visit Orchestra of St. Luke's website, for more information about Music in Color 2019.

OSL's Free Community Concert series is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

WQXR is the official media partner for the Music in Color Free Community Concerts.