Diablo Symphony: “Mother’s Day with Florence Price”

Celebrate Mother’s Day with the Diablo Symphony and a beautiful program that celebrates all mothers, featuring the pioneering work of African American composer Florence Price, on May 8 at 2:00 p.m. at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.  The program opens with Price’s joyous Symphony No. 3, highlighted by movements that combine African and Romantic musical idioms. The third movement’s Juba (plantation dance) and swirling themes in the fourth movement portray jubilance and demonstrate virtuosity in all orchestral sections.
Two elegant songs follow, each featuring area soprano Heidi Moss Erickson. Antonín Dvorák’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me” tells of a mother’s tears, memories, and influence. And Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville Summer of 1915” dreamily remembers the comfort and security felt by a loved child who also recognizes that none of those who love him will “ever tell me who I am,” a quiet acceptance of mystery and mortality.
The program concludes with a medley of songs by Duke Ellington, including his famous “Sophisticated Lady,” written originally as an instrumental sketch of three grade-school teachers who, in Ellington’s words, “taught all winter and toured Europe in the summer. To me that spelled sophistication.” Ellington’s last words were said to be, "Music is how I live, why I live, and how I will be remembered," fitting words as we celebrate and remember through music the mothers in our own lives.
Advance tickets are available at the Lesher Center Box Office (1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, 925-943-7469) and at https://www.diablosymphony.org. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Please call the Lesher Center or check its website (https://www.lesherartscenter.org/) for COVID-19-related requirements in place for event attendance on the date of this concert. This information will also be on the DSO’s web page for this concert.