Alexander Shelley conducts Strauss, Estacio, Price, and Louie — With Randall Goosby

“For me, music has always been a way to inspire others,” says violinist Randall Goosby ahead of his performance with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He makes his NAC debut with Florence Price’s rhapsodic Violin Concerto No. 2—discovered over 50 years after the composer’s death—a masterpiece blending the emotive spirit of European romanticism with jazz, African American spirituals, and Chicago blues. Under the skilful baton of Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra performs two cinematic works by Richard Strauss: tone poem Till Eulenspiegel and orchestral suite from comic opera Der Rosenkavalier. As part of the orchestra’s “Strauss Reinvented” series, these works are paired with commissioned compositions by Canadian composers Alexina Louie and John Estacio, Mon seul désir: Hommage à Strauss and Avé, echoing and responding to Strauss’s masterpieces.

Photo © Kaupo Kikkas