Contemporary classical music is a diverse, ever-changing genre — especially in the melting pot that is America.
Grammy award-winning violinist Johnny Gandelsman is one of the most renowned classical musicians of our day. He’s currently an artist-in-residence at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
During the pandemic, Gandelsman, like many musicians, was stuck at home. During that time of creative stagnancy, he had an idea for a project that he’d eventually call "This Is America." He reached out to around two dozen composers living in the United States and asked them to create a work inspired by the moment our nation was living through.
This year, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is presenting the entire "This Is America" anthology for the first time. Before a Feb. 6 concert in Hanover, Vermont Edition's Mikaela Lefrak sat down with Gandelsman and Kojiro Umezaki, a Dartmouth alum, "This Is America" contributor and shakuhachi player, to discuss their music and decades-long friendship.
Music selections:
- "Music for Solitude," composed by Justin Messina, as performed by Gandelsman
- "O" composed by Clarice Assad, as performed by Gandelsman
- "Stitched," composed by Matana Roberts, as performed by Gandelsman and Umezaki
Broadcast at noon Monday, Feb. 19, 2024; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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