OLD FRIENDS - NEW MUSIC!

Kevin Rhodes returns for a concert celebrating the diversity of America’s music and musicians. W. Newell Hendricks was a multifaceted composer who lived in Cambridge, and tonight’s concert begins with the Prologue and Prelude to his three-act opera Cain. Hungarian-American composer Miklós Rózsa is best known for his scores to epic films such as Ben-Hur. His colorful Tema con Variazioni features violinist Lucia Lin and cellist Owen Young, both members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Gabriela Lena Frank’s multicultural heritage inspired her exhilarating Havana Jila, a Peruvian mishearing of the traditional Jewish song “Hava Nagila.” Aaron Copland’s music for Martha Graham’s pioneer ballet Appalachian Spring became an instant classic when it premiered in 1944. Spacious and sparkling, it ends with a series of variations on the Shaker song “Simple Gifts,” which Copland’s suite made famous.