The GRAMMY-winning University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra arrives in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall directly from its historic tour of South Africa. 2025 GRAMMY-winner, soprano Karen Slack, acclaimed South African soprano Goitsemang Lehobye, and renowned bass Daniel Washington are featured in this concert conducted by UMSO Music Director and GRAMMY nominee Kenneth Kiesler. The evening’s program joins film and stage music by Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin with William Dawson’s powerful and thrilling Negro Folk Symphony and spirituals both moving and joyful. The most recent recording of Kenneth Kiesler and the UMSO earned a coveted place among the NY Times Best Classical Music Albums of 2023.

Performers:

University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra
Kenneth Kiesler, conductor
Karen Slack, soprano
Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano
Daniel Washington, bass

Program:

BERNSTEIN On the Waterfront Suite

GERSHWIN Porgy and Bess Selections
Summertime
I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’
My Man’s Gone Now
Bess, You Is My Woman Now

WILLIAM DAWSON Negro Folk Symphony

TRAD Witness (arr. Hale Smith)

TRAD Deep River (arr. Carl Davis)

TRAD You Can Tell the World (arr. Margaret Bonds)