Johnny Gandelsman: This is America

“…sparklingly personal Bach, shorn of grandeur, lofted by a spirit of dance, and as predictable as the flight of a swallow.”

–The Boston Globe

A founding member of Brooklyn Rider and a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, Grammy-award winning violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman returns to Holy Cross with a solo program featuring J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 on the violin and selections from “This Is America,” a new commissioning and recording project featuring over twenty new works for solo violin, written by American and US-based artists.

“This is America” celebrates America’s rich cultural tapestry and its myriad perspectives, thoughts and ideas, offering a vivid counterpoint to the idea that this land can be understood through a singular, dominant point of view. Each composition in the anthology reflects on the current state of American society in a personal and intimate way, looking through an unflinching lens at universal topics like separation, loneliness, hope and love.