Sedona News – On April 6, 2025, Sedona Symphony will present its fourth classical symphonic concert of the 2024-2025 season under the artistic direction of conductor Janna Hymes. The concert features pianist Lara Downes, honored as Classical Woman of the Year by NPR’s Performance Today, praised as “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News, and touted as “an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten” in The Log Journal. The concert will begin at 2:30 PM at the Sedona Performing Arts Center, 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road in Sedona. The program will feature works by Florence Beatrice Smith Price (Piano Concerto in One Movement), Scott Joplin (The Entertainer, Maple Leaf Rag, and Elite Syncopations), and Francis Poulenc (Sinfonietta).
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
Lara Downes is renowned for her dynamic work as a soloist, NPR personality, producer, curator, and arts activist. Her creative collaborations span a diverse range of artists, including the Miró Quartet, Rhiannon Giddens, Rita Dove, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and violinist Daniel Hope. She has premiered and commissioned works from composers such as Jennifer Higdon, Billy Childs, Valerie Coleman, and Arturo O’Farrill. Lara’s approach to concept and curation has produced an extensive catalog of Billboard chart-topping recordings on the Pentatone, Sony Masterworks, and Sono Luminus labels, including her newest release: This Land. As creator/host of NPR’s AMPLIFY with Lara Downes, she features conversations with visionary Black artists and cultural leaders. Lara is the creator/curator of Rising Sun Music, which highlights the music and stories of Black composers over the past 200 years. Her work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Sphinx Venture Fund, and the Center for Cultural Innovation.
Florence Price (1887-1953) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and admitted to the New England Conservatory at the age of 14, where she studied with composers George Chadwick and Frederick Converse. After witnessing the devastation of the 1919 race riots in Arkansas, she and her family relocated to Chicago, where Price’s compositions began to attract favorable attention. In 1933, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered her first symphony, marking the first time a symphony by an African-American woman was performed by a major American orchestra. Commissioned by the Works Progress Administration in 1933, Price’s Concerto in One Movement premiered in Chicago, with the composer as the soloist. The concerto reflects her deep knowledge of both Western European classical traditions and African-American musical idioms, which are evident in the syncopated rhythms, blues-inflected harmonies, and occasional references to spirituals.
Scott Joplin (1868-1917) is now considered one of America’s most famous and beloved composers and musicians. Born to a former slave and a freeborn African-American mother, the “King of Ragtime” grew up in poverty in Texas and Arkansas. Both of his parents were musical; his father played the violin and his mother sang and played the banjo. His teacher, Julius Weiss, was a Jewish immigrant from Germany, who recognized Joplin’s talent and taught him without charge. The rags on this program were originally composed for solo piano. American composers Gunther Schuller and Stephen Buck have expanded Joplin’s exposure and popularity by their orchestral arrangements of these works. Schuller’s New England Ragtime Ensemble’s album of Joplin rags, The Red Back Book, spent a year on the Billboard Hot 100 album charts, won a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance, and Schuller’s arrangement of Joplin’s “The Entertainer” was used in the Academy Award-winning film, The Sting.
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) was the son of a prosperous French businessman and expected to take over the family business, dashing his early dreams of attending a music college. After fortuitously connecting with pianist Ricardo Viñes and composer Erik Satie following his parents’ death, Poulenc emerged as one of “Les Six,” a group of young- composers based in Montparnasse, France, and orbiting around the gravitational attractions of Satie and avant-gardiste Jean Cocteau. Audiences loved the unsophisticated fresh charm of Poulenc’s compositions, including his Sinfonietta, composed in 1947 on commission by the BBC. Sinfonietta displays Poulenc’s characteristic wit and whimsy along with his neo-classical leanings. The commission stipulated that the mood should be light, and Poulenc fulfilled the directive. Although musicologists have criticized some structural weaknesses, Poulenc’s cheeky response was, “Don’t analyze my music. Love it!”
ABOUT SEDONA SYMPHONY:
Now in its 20th season, Sedona Symphony remains committed to our mission of “enriching the quality of life of our Northern Arizona community through the power of live orchestral music that educates, entertains, and inspires.” Led by Artistic Director Janna Hymes, Sedona Symphony offers a diverse range of programs, featuring both classical masterpieces and pops performances. Our 2024-2025 Season is sponsored by Neil and Mary Pope. The April 6 concert is co-sponsored by Mike and Christine Schroeder, and John Martinez and Carol Palmer. Ticket prices range from $20 to $70, with half-price discounts for attendees aged 18 or under. Tickets are available for purchase on Sedona Symphony’s website (sedonasymphony.org) and at the door on the day of the concert, subject to availability.
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