Hannah White, who made her Symphoria debut in a streamed concert in 2021 during the Covid pandemic, will return in person Sunday, Nov. 12 to perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Concerto for Violin in G major, No. 3, the Strassburg. It is the orchestra’s first Casual series concert of the season.
“I’m especially excited for this concert,” Music Director Lawrence Loh said. “Hannah White is a Sphinx Laureate who has garnered rave reviews from critics and audiences throughout the world.”
The Sphinx organization is dedicated to building diversity in classical music by nurturing and promoting young performers and arts administrators of color. It began in 1997 when violinist Aaron P. Dworkin created the first competition with the goal of providing opportunities for the most talented Black and Latinx musicians to become part of professional orchestras.
White, who is not yet 25, toured the United States with the Sphinx Virtuosi for three consecutive years, in which she was a featured soloist for two years. She has also toured extensively with her alma mater’s, Colburn Conservatory Orchestra, and with Chineke!, Britain’s ethnically diverse orchestra. She holds first place prizes from dozens of solo and chamber group competitions. She continues her studies at Colburn Conservatory in the studio of Robert Lipsett.
Mozart composed his third violin concerto in 1775 when he was 19. It is comprised of three movements that are performed in approximately 24 minutes.
Sunday’s program will open with a brief string orchestra version of contemporary composter Jessie Montgomery’s sunny “Strum.” The composer has described the seven-minute work as “drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement.”
Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, colloquially known as “The Spring Symphony,” the composer’s own title, rounds out the program. It was composed and debuted in 1841, Schumann’s first orchestral work. Loh calls it “delightful,” and says it will provide a way for Central New Yorkers to gaze beyond the dark days of winter in anticipation of spring.
Casual series concerts are presented without intermission and last under an hour and a half. Loh said the venue, Saint Paul’s Syracuse, is the perfect intimate setting for light classical music for the audience to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon.
DETAILS
What: Casual, “Mozart With Hannah White”
Where: St. Paul’s of Syracuse, 220 E. Fayette St.
When: Nov. 12, at 3 p.m.
Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $43 prime seating; $33 general admission; senior citizens discounted by $5. Students with I.D. $5; kids under 18 free
Purchase: 315-299-5598 or experiencesymphoria.org
Parking: Free on street.