Blue Cathedral opens, Sibelius closes
Jennifer Higdon wrote Blue Cathedral as a passage through blue stained glass toward light, composed not long after her younger brother’s death. Sibelius’s Second follows a similar shape, a brooding opening giving way to a triumphant close. Melissa White joins the orchestra between them for Barber’s Violin Concerto.
Blue Cathedral
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 2
American violinist Melissa White is celebrated for playing what critics have called “warmly expressive and lyrical… glittering.” A founding member of the Grammy-winning Harlem Quartet, she has earned acclaim as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing with leading orchestras and presenters across the United States and abroad. A first-prize laureate of the Sphinx Competition, she serves on the faculties of New York University’s Steinhardt School and the University at Buffalo.
