Just two weeks out from Hurricane Hugo, a brisk breeze blew at the Custom House in Charleston, and the musicians of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra grappled with the clothespins that held the wind-whipped sheet music to their music stands. Designed to lift spirits and underscore the city’s new phrase “We’re Going Strong,” the performance was simultaneously aired across South Carolina, and was dedicated to the courage of all affected and to rebuilding the strength of all South Carolinians whose lives were touched by Hurricane Hugo.
After Mayor Joe Riley welcomed the crowd and spoke of thankfulness for all the volunteers, supplies and support that came on the heels of Hurricane Hugo, David Stahl, conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra took the podium and began the program with the national anthem, followed by selections from Bizet's Carmen, and dove into popular waltzes headed by Take Me Out to The Ballgame. Stahl interspersed patriotic music with popular tunes of the time, including a medley of Simon and Garfunkel favorites, and Aaron Copland's Portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Guest performers baritone bass Donnie Ray Albert and soprano Priscilla Baskerville rounded out the event by singing several selections from Porgy and Bess.
We hope that you will enjoy this memorable musical moment in South Carolina history.
Side Notes
- Joseph Patrick Riley Jr. (born January 19, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 60th mayor of Charleston, South Carolina from 1975 to 2016.
- David Stahl (4 November 1949 – 24 October 2010) was an American conductor who served as the music director and intendant of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich and the Music Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. A student of Leonard Bernstein, he was famous for his interpretation of Mahler's works. David Stahl held the position as conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra from 1984 until his death in 2010. He is credited with leading the orchestra and building it into a leading arts organization in the Southeast. His energy and dedication were known for inspiring audiences for both classical and popular repertoire.
- Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked its first audiences. Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the work would achieve international acclaim within the following ten years.
- Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances
- Peter Gunn Theme Song - "Peter Gunn" is the theme music composed by Henry Mancini for the television show of the same name. The song was the opening track on the original soundtrack album, The Music from Peter Gunn, released by RCA Victor in 1959. Mancini won an Emmy Award and two Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Arrangement. In 2005, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
- Simon and Garfunkel
- Aaron Copland - November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Lincoln Portrait (also known as A Lincoln Portrait) is a 1942 classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments. The work is narrated with the reading of excerpts of Abraham Lincoln's great documents, including the Gettysburg Address. An orchestra usually invites a prominent person to be the narrator.
- Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy.
- Donnie Ray Albert - (born January 10, 1950) is an American operatic baritone who has had an active international career since 1976.
- Priscilla Baskerville -Jazz Singer with Soprano Voice, Discography.
- George Gershwin - September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular and classical music.
- Dubose Heyward - August 31, 1885 – June 16, 1940 was an American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. He and his wife Dorothy, a playwright, adapted it as a 1927 play of the same name. The couple worked with composer George Gershwin to adapt the work as the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. It was later adapted to a 1959 film of the same name.
