If you missed our Florence Price chamber concert with violinist Er-Gene Kahng and friends at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art a couple years ago, you’re in luck. Kahng is back, for a virtual salon at 7 p.m. this Saturday, August 1. Experience it via our brand new YouTube channel. By the way, there’s a little clip highlighting the Crystal Bridges performance up there now. Go check it out.
She’ll perform three spirituals written by Price for violin and piano, along with pianist Nathan Carterette. Price is a Little Rock-born composer who made history when she became the first Black woman to have her symphony performed by a major symphony organization in 1933. Read all about Price in this write-up from The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, who highlights a recording by Kahng of Price’s two violin concertos, writing that “Kahng plays the solo parts with lustrous tone and glistening facility.”
Kahng will also perform from Kronos Quartet’s 50 for the Future project, which is “a free library of fifty contemporary works designed to guide string quartets in developing and honing the skills required for the performance of 21st-century repertoire.”
She’ll play from “Sunjata’s Time,” written by Fodé Lassana Diabaté, and arranged Jacob Garchik. Three members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra — Katherine Williamson (violin), Timothy MacDuff (viola), and David Gerstein (cello) — will perform virtually with Kahng for the latest offering in our remote salons as we continue to weather the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stay tuned after the performance for a Q&A between Kahng and Katy Henriksen, our founding director.
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