MYS is proud to welcome barrier-breaking five-time Grammy winner and Portland native esperanza spalding for its season finale.
MYS is commissioning a piece by esperanza spalding for bass, voice, and symphony, exploring the connection between the land and spirit. esperanza will perform the new work with MYS Symphony Orchestra and jazz students, along with Ebony and Ivy by esperanza spalding, and Midnight in Carlotta’s Hair by the great Wayne Shorter.
In honor of another barrier breaker, MYS will perform Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4, one of her most substantial symphonies. Composed in 1945, this work was never performed during Price’s life and was presumed lost until 2009, when it was rediscovered in her former summer home in Illinois. Price’s Symphony No. 4 received its world premiere by the Fort Smith Symphony on May 12, 2018.
MYS is no stranger to Price’s work. In 2019, Symphony Orchestra performed the U.S. West Coast premiere of Price’s Symphony No. 1, and took this piece abroad in Italy and Austria as part of its international tour that same summer.
