William Schuman’s American Festival Overture opens the concert, and was written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1939. Baritone [soloist’s name] joins the orchestra to perform both sets of Copland’s Old American Songs.

Amy Beach’s Gaelic Symphony, composed in 1894, is the first symphony composed and published by a female American composer. Dvořák’s influence on American music of this era should not be underestimated, and is audible in this, her only symphony. Beach drew inspiration from simple old English, Irish, and Scottish melodies; thus, she subtitled the work ‘Gaelic.’