STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Staten Island Philharmonic will present a free concert titled “Visions of America” on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m., in the auditorium of Tottenville High School, where Scott Jackson Wiley will be conducting.
The program will open with the world premiere of a new piece by Staten Island composer Dr. Howard Fox called “Piccolo Pezzo.”
Dr. Fox promises that the music will reflect the English translation of its title, “Small Piece,” and that it will be a delight for listeners.
Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American), by William Grant Still (1895-1978), written in 1930, uses ideas from popular African-American music of that time, and may be the only symphony ever to use a banjo as part of the orchestra.
Still also used excerpts of poetry by African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar as inspirations for each of the four movements.
Gabriela Lena Frank who was born in 1972 and of American of Peruvian, Chinese and Jewish descent, used her unique perspective to create “Three Latin American Dances—a Jungle Jaunt,” “Highland Harawi,” and “Mestizo Waltz.”
Frank used “mestizo,” a term for persons of mixed European and indigenous descent, as a play on the title of Franz Lizst’s piece “Mephisto Waltz.” All three dances are lively and loaded with exotic percussion, daring listeners not to get up and dance.
The Brighton Heights Youth Orchestra under the baton of Yvette Washington Wheatley, a 2023 Advance Woman of Achievement, will also perform pieces by three composers, Kirt Mosler, Florence Price and Sebastien Yradier.
The Staten Island Philharmonic will be conducted by Scott Jackson Wiley, a close friend and colleague of maestro Alejandro Guzmán, the longtime former music director of the Staten Island Philharmonic.
The concert is free and advance tickets are not required.
Tottenville High School is located at 100 Luten Ave, between Amboy Road and Hylan Boulevard, and reachable by foot from the Huguenot train station.
Note there is plenty of free parking around the school as well.
For further information, phone 917-545-8266.